Alive With the Glory of Love
by eisforerica
Summary: What if Rose was a Moroi? What if she was a ROYAL Moroi? And being the last in her line would mean that even while at St. Vlad's she would still have to be protected, protected by none other than the infamous guardian: Dimitri Belikov. **Back in progress!
1. Chapter 1

**What if Rose was a Moroi? What if she was a royal Moroi? And being the last in her line would mean that even while at St. Vladimir's she would still have to be protected, protected by none other than the infamous guardian: Dimitri Belikov.**

* * *

My chest burned as I ran through the cold woods, hearing the feet of the guardians crunching against the leaves as they chased me and Liss. I wasn't sure what they'd do to us if we were caught, but I didn't want to find out. I quickly threw the half-full bottle of vodka against a tree, the glass shattering and the expensive liquor splashing everywhere. I heard Lissa squeal as she fell, I turned and saw her getting tackled lightly by a guardian a few feet away from me, causing me to trip over a branch. Gravity really sucks.

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My name is Rose Hathaway, full name Rosemarie, but if you call me that you're so dead. I'm seventeen years old and the last in the Hathaway royal line, making me the Princess. My parents died while fighting against a group of Strigoi alongside their guardians. They were the first to attempt to use their powers in combat against Strigoi; they would've succeeded if it wasn't for me. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was eleven years old and I was playing with Lissa at my family's winter cabin not far from the academy when I heard my mom scream. Lissa's parents, who were upstairs, came running down, looking out the window and calling their guardians to assist my parents and our guardians. I didn't know what was happening and with Lissa's parents trying to calm me down my curiosity just grew, I ran towards the door and before they could tell me anything, I was out in the snow. I saw my mom and dad using Fire against the Strigoi along with the guardians and red snow surrounded them, along with bodies of Dhampirs and Strigoi. I cried out and ran towards them, thinking that I could help. My mom turned around, her eyes open wide with fear of my safety, and she screamed out my name, making my dad turn around also, making them completely vulnerable to the Strigoi. That's when they died.

It haunted my dreams almost every night and I don't think I'd ever forgive myself. Lissa's older brother, Andre, came outside in the snow and picked me up, carrying me back into the house as the remaining guardians took the remaining Strigoi out. I clung to him like my life depended on it and I was quiet for weeks, the only one I spoke to was him and Lissa. That made me and Lissa's friendship skyrocket, and since then we have been inseparable, which brings me back to the running-away-from-guardians situation.

With only a few days left before school, Lissa and I decided to go out into the woods with a few other friends and drink, celebrating our last first day of school. The thing is that we had a strict which meant that we'd have to sneak out, which was possible, as was getting caught. But there wasn't much we could do about that, so we partied until we were all buzzed and that's when we heard them coming. Everyone ran off in different directions except for me and Lissa, therefore concluding our 'celebration'.

* * *

As I sat up in bed I couldn't help but groan, holding my head and looking over at a very handsome, yet intimidating man of 6'4 sitting across my room, staring at me. I let out a small squeal and covered myself with my comforter, looking down to see I only had my bra and panties on.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked without thinking.

He smirked, as if expecting it, and that smirk made me melt. "I'm Dimitri Belikov, you're guardian. Headmistress Kirova wants you in her office in 30 minutes, I'll leave you to get dressed but I'll be outside your door, don't try to pull anything Princess."

And with that, he was gone. My mouth fell open a little at his abruptness but more at what he had just said. My _guardian? _I sighed, a pain shooting through my head at all my thinking. I stood up and felt an even larger pain. This is what I get for drinking and falling on my face.

I quickly got into the shower, it always helped and I was covered in dry mud. When I got out I looked at the clock and saw I had taken a twenty minute shower - great. With my head feeling a little better I got dressed as quickly as I could, slipping on some dark tinted jeans, a cream cashmere sweater, and black converse. I slid on a black beanie and then my royal blue coat, walking out with 2 minutes to go.

"We're going to be late," Guardian Belikov said sternly.

"It's 8:30pm, give a girl a break," I said as I walked faster to keep up with his long stride walk, he really was tall. "Besides, I have questions.. Like why have I gotten assigned a guardian while I'm still at St. Vladimir's?"

"As the last person in line of the Hathaways and your constant stunt-pulling, I have been assigned to you ahead of schedule by Queen Tatiana."

Before I could say anything else we walked into Kirova's office, I was joined by Lissa with another guardian I remembered but her name wasn't clicking.

"Rosemarie, nice of you to join us," she said sarcastically with a smile that made her look constipated.

"My pleasure, Kirova," I replied with as much sarcasm.

"Headmistress Kirova," she corrected me. "But, ladies we do have things to discuss, such as why were the two of you in the woods, drinking alcohol and unaccompanied by guardians at such a late hour?"

"It was a simple celebration, Headmistress," Lissa said quietly and I looked over at her, she looked so freaked out. Even though we were best friends, she stayed out of my worst stunts, and she wasn't used to being in Kirova's office for something wrong.

I felt horrible, so I stood up quickly, "It was my idea, Headmistress Kirova." I sighed and continued, "I bought the liquor and brought it to the woods, I planned out our sneak out route and convinced Lissa that we needed to celebrate our last first day of school."

"Yes, well, I certainly believe you, and I don't know if you girls realize what could've happened if Strigoi had decided that last night was the night to attack the academy," she stood up and hovered over her desk. "The Hathaway line would've been completely wiped out, Rose. Two royals of the Moroi world would've been gone, and we simply can't afford that. You two would've been a great loss."

Lissa and I looked at each other; somehow, this woman was right. I sat back down, scared of what our punishments could be.

"I have thought about your punishments and I've decided that, along with the Queen's approval, Rose, you will begin training just as the guardians do, along with older Moroi who have fire as their power to train for combat with Strigoi."

My heart stopped as flashes of my parents fighting Strigoi, Queen Tatiana's approval of Moroi volunteers being able to train to use their powers and fight alongside guardians, and all my nightmares of being killed by Strigoi sped through my brain. I saw Dimitri push himself off of the wall he was leaning against in my peripheral vision and turned to see a confused look on his face.

"Wait, what?" he asked. "Headmistress Kirova, you can't be serious. Queen Tatiana specifically said Moroi that _volunteered _would do it, but none would be forced into it. To make it worse it's a seventeen-year-old girl that you're forcing to do it."

Kirova's hands bunched into fists, "Queen Tatiana approved, I know how much she cares for Rose, I made sure that she was okay with it. She believes Rose has much potential, following her parents. Lissa, although you are slightly innocent in this situation, you will also be assigned a guardian, Guardian Alberta Petrov, who retrieved you from your room this morning. And beginning on the first day of class, you will begin detention for the remainder of the semester."

The headmistress sat back down and folded her hands on her desk in front of her and began to speak again, "Rose, you will begin your training on the first day of school, Guardian Belikov will be your mentor and trainer, and he will decide your schedule. I believe we are done here."

I stood up, my eyes wide with slight fear and shock that this happened. Lissa put her hand on my lower back and we walked out together, our guardians following us. Once we were out of the building Liss turned and hugged me, I hugged back tight and closed my eyes tight. "It'll be okay Rose, I promise. You'll do great."

I nodded slowly, trying to figure out how the situation could be okay. I looked over at the guardians, who were scanning the lawn surrounding the building, it was covered with snow. As I looked at Dimitri Belikov, something in me realized that having a mentor/trainer like him could maybe be the one and only 'okay' thing.

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**So what do you guys think? Reviews keep me writing! This is my first VA story, the characters are slightly OOC, but I love them the way they are, so they'll be going back and forth! If you have any suggestions or complaints, please tell me!**

**Dimitri, Dimitri, Dimitri, mmm :3**

**ERICA**


	2. Chapter 2

**You guys totally made my day with the reviews, favoriting, etc. Seeing all those alerts in my e-mail totally made my day. Seriously.**

**I don't usually post daily but you guys have been great, so I hope y'all like it!**

**Oh, I made a mistake in the first chapter - I wrote it was "8:30am" when Rose and Lissa had to go to Kirova's office, completely forgetting that they are in vampire time! So I changed it, just in case anyone else caught it.**

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As I walked into the small cubicle the feeder smiled with eagerness. With everything that was going on I decided that I needed blood, and fast. Dimitri stood outside of the room and it was a small relief, you could feel his powerful demeanor when he was in the room with you.

The woman was middle aged, I'd had her before, "Princess, how wonderful to see you again." She said with a slight sing-song tone, her eyes were glazed over and she looked high, getting bitten can do that to you.

I nodded and sat beside her, my throat burning with hunger, and as she tilted her head the burning grew, I leaned down and sunk my fangs into her slowly. A sigh of pleasure escaped from her lips as the blood flowed down my throat. Once I was finished I pulled away and the woman flopped back onto the chair tiredly, I reached over her to the small table and grabbed a cookie, placing it in her hand and walking out.

Feeders were essential to Moroi life, without them we would be forced to become the nightmare vampires would "stalk" humans in the night and kill. Scary, huh? The school provided them as did companies and businesses throughout the secret Moroi world. Moroi's saliva was like a drug to humans, which is why most become life-long feeders to us.

When I walked out of the room I spotted Dimitri and nodded at him, beginning to walk with him beside me. "So.. Did you volunteer to be my mentor and Guardian or were you forced into it?"

"It is my job to protect you, Princess, and I will do what I must," he said thoughtfully.

"You didn't answer my question."

"I had been in Russia, my home country, for a few years when something happened with the royal Moroi family I'd been protecting," he stopped talking and I realized we were at my room. "I wanted a transfer to the United States, the Queen wanted someone for the Hathaway Princess, and I volunteered. However, being your mentor was not my choice, nonetheless, I will teach you all I know."

I sighed, knowing if I asked about what happened with the family in Russia I wouldn't get an answer, so I let it go for now and turned to him before I opened my door, "Lissa will be coming over before lunch, I'm going back to sleep."

He nodded, lost in thought, "I'll be here."

I closed the door and leaned against it for a minute, thinking about what he'd just told me. I was nervous about beginning my training but a part of me knew that it's what my parents would have wanted, and I think I wanted it too. This was all too much to think of with a hangover, so I took off my jeans and sweater and climbed into bed, falling asleep to the sound of Dimitri's voice.

* * *

_If only it was Dimitri that I dreamt of. Instead I dreamt of creatures with pale white skin and blood red eyes that froze your entire body when they looked into yours._

_It was just like that day at the winter cabin seven years before, except it was different. Because as I looked at my parents being killed by the Strigoi, paralyzed, someone ran by me and towards the fight. Lissa._

"_Lissa! Liss, no, don't go! I'm right here!" I screamed and screamed, but she couldn't hear me. It's like she wanted to be killed._

_Lissa turned, finally, with a face of shock. That's when a Strigoi came up beside her and sunk it's teeth into her. Her scream was so high and loud that it hurt my ears, and as she fell to the snow covered ground I began running. Running towards the bodies of the three most important people in my life, but the snow covered path just kept getting longer and longer. I kept running but it was like I was on a treadmill, I was getting absolutely no where. My heart was pounding in my chest and tears were streaming down my face, why couldn't I get to them?_

_And as Andre came up behind me and tried to pull me back into the house, three Strigoi came out of the trees, picked up the bodies of my mother, father, and best friend and ran off with them._

* * *

I woke up to Lissa shaking me, "What the hell?" I groaned and put a pillow over my face.

"You will never believe who I ran into on my way to the library!" she said as she jumped on the bed beside me and yanked the pillow out of my hands.

"Cher?"

My best friend smiled and readjusted herself to get more comfortable, keeping me waiting. I had to give her a look for her to continue, and she lowered her voice, "Two words: Adrian Ivashkov."

"What?" I stood up from my bed and began pacing back and forth, what the hell was Adrian Ivashkov doing back? "He graduated with Andre, he should be long gone. With Queen Tatiana at her palace or something!"

"I don't know Rose, but he asked about you.." she said with a wink.

I couldn't help but let out a groan, ever since Adrian and I had begun fooling around last winter she had been all for us becoming a couple. He was quite breathtaking, with his stylish brown hair, emerald green eyes, 6'2" stature and high cheekbones. I seemed to be the only one to ever turn him down, solely because he was a drunk and a constant smoker, but also because throughout my junior year I had an off and on again relationship with Mason Ashford, a Dhampir and a novice Guardian at St. Vladimir's.

"How about we get off this subject and move on to a more interesting one, like.. Lunch?" I said, I'd think about Adrian later.

"Fine, let's go get some food in you," she said with a sigh as she stood up. She wasn't going to let this go, it was just a Lissa thing to do. Ever since she began dating Christian Ozera junior year she'd been set on me finding a guy to be with so we could "double date." She was ridiculous, I loved her for it.

I put on the clothes that I'd worn this morning and followed her out the door, nodding at Alberta and Dimitri as they stood outside. It was kind of hard to believe that we'd been assigned Guardians already, but we'd have to deal. At least Dimitri was nice to look at. I looked back at him, he was looking right at me. I smiled and quickly turned my head, running straight into the person I'd wanted to avoid, Adrian Ivashkov.

His smile was bigger than ever as he looked at me, he planted a kiss on my cheek and bowed dramatically, "Princess."

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**Am I the only one who loves Mase? He was so sweet and I just adored him in the books, I cried so hard when he died. I just had to put him in this :3**

**Hope you guys enjoyed, please review! They make me write faster :)**

**ERICA**


	3. Chapter 3

**Once again, you guys made my day with everything. I couldn't wait to post this chapter, I know it's a bit boring but the action will come up soon! Thanks for all the feedback, good and bad. You guys rock, as does VA and Dimitri Belikov :3**

**Well, enough of me! ENJOY!**

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He was still gorgeous, of course. Breathtaking would definitely be the right word to describe him.. If he didn't smell like an ashtray. An ashtray filled with expensive cigarette ash, but an ashtray nonetheless. Seeing him made me realize why I was attracted to him in the first place - and why I wasn't.

Adrian smirked and nodded at the Guardians behind me and Liss, "Guardian Petrov, Belikov - Nice to see you again."

Of course _he_ would know Dimitri. I looked over at Lissa and she shrugged, I guess I was on my own with him. "So Ivashkov, what on earth are you doing here at St. Vlad's? Shouldn't you be preying after girls your own age?"

"Well, I wasn't last winter, as you well know. Why would I change my habits now?" he replied and his smirk grew wider.

I rolled my eyes and felt Lissa's arm linking with mine before she spoke, "We were about to go eat lunch Adrian, so if you could get out of our way, that would be great."

That's Lissa for you, polite even when she was annoyed. She would've made a much better princess than me. To my surprise Adrian moved, I didn't give him a second glance and I couldn't help being tense on the walk to the cafeteria. Thankfully, Dimitri and Alberta decided to give me and Liss time to talk by sitting a few tables away.

"I wonder why he's back.." Lissa said and I shrugged, I truly didn't know and I don't think I wanted to know. Throughout the past 9 months I had gotten some e-mails and texts from him, along with some dreams conjured from Spirit, but it had been months since I'd actually seen him.

Adrian Ivashkov being back brought back some feelings that had been locked inside of me for months. He was sweet and he treated me right, he was also really good in bed. But then came the negative things, such as his drinking/smoking problem - being a Spirit user made having substances running through him at all times necessary to keep the magic at bay. I understood, but I also understood that there were many other ways to control it. I had figured that out with Lissa, and in those few weeks over last year's winter break, I had been able to keep Adrian sober, but that only lasted for so long.

Lissa's a Spirit user, like Adrian. Her full name is Vasilisa Dragomir, she's also a royal, that's how we became best friends. She has an older brother named Andre, along with two parents. They're my second, and now my only, family. During our junior year, her Spirit got really bad. It's such a powerful element that it can change you. It caused her so much stress that she turned to cutting herself and became depressed. She controls it by taking depression pills - not only do they help her mentally and emotionally, but they make the magic from Spirit sort of dim. Adrian wasn't up for that.

I couldn't deny that Adrian helped Liss with her Spirit magic. Throughout the time since we'd met him last year he'd helped her in more ways than one. He visited her in her dreams and taught her things that no one else could teach her. She was getting close to dream walking herself. But when it came to my relationship with him Lissa was iffy, and I didn't blame her. Adrian Ivashkov was known to 'get around' and to be a heartbreaker. He also didn't give up on things easily, like me. Which brings us to problem number one.

"Rose? Earth to Rose!" I heard Lissa shout at me but it took me a few seconds to get out of my frozen stance with my fry in mid-air. "Hate to end your daydreaming and all, but look who just walked in."

I turned my head and saw Mason Ashford walk through the door. This day just keeps getting even better, he smiled at me and I smiled back, I couldn't help it. Mase was my best friend first and an ex-boyfriend second. He had planned to request to be one of my Guardians this year and I hoped he still wanted to.

"And here comes my man," I heard Lissa say and turned back, seeing Christian come up behind her and kiss her head, then her lips.

"Already with the kissing? Come on guys, I'm eating," I joked and Christian smirked down at me, holding his hand out. I shook it and smirked right back.

Christian Ozera had a false reputation behind him and he proved every one wrong, I respected him for it. He also treated my best friend like a queen, I approved one hundred percent. As they reconnected I finished the rest of my fries and moved on to the only healthy thing in my meal, an apple, as Mason and his best friend, Eddie Castile sat beside me. He planted a kiss on my cheek and I smiled.

"Mason Ashford, how nice it is of you to join us," I said with a smile.

He laughed and nodded, "Oh, it is my pleasure, it's always nice seeing you princess, my day can't go on without the sight of your smiling face."

Eddie made a gagging noise, causing all of us to laugh. "Wow Mase, I thought after a summer apart you'd be able to come up with better pick up lines. Guess not." I said with a shrug and smirked at him.

Lunch continued to be playful and it felt right to have the group together again, Mia and Jill were missing but they'd be coming this weekend. Mason and Eddie had just gotten in this morning, and school started on Monday, which meant St. Vladimir's Academy was going to be fully populated in just a few days. And for some reason, I couldn't wait.

* * *

The next few days flew by, Mia and Jill had arrived and things seemed to get back to normal. Adrian kept 'harassing' me and Liss, but he was getting better - he was almost bearable.

By the time I knew it, it was my last first day of school. Dimitri had me up at the early hour of 5:00PM and school didn't start until 8:00, so waking up was a bitch. I dressed in black yoga pants, a teal tank top made of the same silky fabric, and some sneakers. As I walked out I slid on a gray hoodie, put my hair up in a high ponytail and took a deep breath, kissing a photo of my parents, _This is for you guys._

* * *

It turned out that Dimitri didn't believe in getting into combat right away. Instead he wanted to get into running and putting me into cardiac arrest. We were at the oval shaped track on the opposite end of school, my chest and legs were burning as I tried to keep up with him. Did he not realize that I hadn't received all of the training he did?

Once we were done with three miles we thankfully stopped, my body was covered in sweat and I really couldn't remember ever doing this much exercise in my seventeen years in life. I didn't know why the hell we were running instead of kicking some dummies asses. Once my breathing slowed down I asked Dimitri. He replied in a calm voice, as if we hadn't just run three miles, I don't even think he was tired, damn Dhampir..

"First of all, to be a good fighter, you need to learn how to run," he handed me a water bottle and I took it gratefully. "If you have no weapons, what do you do?"

"Set them on fire, I can do that with my magic - right?" I had heard stories but had never witnessed it, I couldn't wait to learn.

He seemed to be hesitant to answer but he nodded slightly, "Yes, but you don't know how much energy that may take, to set a Strigoi entirely on fire. It would kill them, but it could get you killed too. You need to learn how to run, Rose."

"So running miles daily will teach me that?"

"Yes," he chuckled, it was a nice sound. "Believe me, I was just like you, questioning my mentor about running, but it will really help."

I believed him. I found it hard to believe that he had had a mentor, he was like a god when it came to combat, but I guess everyone starts off somewhere. As I looked at Dimitri I saw a new side of him. I had just seen him smile for the first time and I liked that look on him, happiness - He was wearing black sweat pants and a gray muscle shirt, and wow did it show off his muscles. He barely had a bead of sweat on his body and that made him that much more attractive. I tore my eyes away from him and looked at the sky.

As the sun began to set I realized that it was almost time for school, meaning I had less time to shower and get ready. Great. I looked at Dimitri with impatient eyes and he made a hand motion towards the school, I was released. I smiled and jogged towards the academy, I had a feeling this training thing wasn't going to be as bad as I thought it would.

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**I would totally run three miles a day to have Dimitri as my mentor! ;) Who wouldn't? And Mason, ahh :3 I love that guy.**

**Reviews make me write faster! My goal is 35 reviews, then a new chapter!**

**You guys are awesome,**

**ERICA**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry about the wait peeps! I had a stressful weekend. But you guys totally made it better. We surpassed my goal and it made me absolutely ecstatic! Just ask my friends, I was talking about all the reviews I was getting constantly. You guys rock so much, Dimitris and Adrians for everyone! :D**

**This chapter wasn't as long as the others, but I just wanted to get this up to you guys! ENJOY!**

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The clock read 7:40PM and after taking a very painful shower I didn't have any intentions of making my first day of class. The running had felt good at first, but after a warm shower I realized just how sore I was going to be. Just as I decided to lay down my best friend barged into my room, dressed perfectly in dark jeans, gold ballet flats and a teal cashmere sweater.

"Rose! We have twenty minutes before our first class! What are you doing in a towel?" she said in a motherly voice she often spoke to me in.

"My body hurts, just let me rest for a minute.. Or day.." I said and covered my face with a pillow and I heard her rummaging through my closet.

"I am not letting you miss the first day of class, I don't care how tired you are," she said sternly as I felt a bra hit my arm, then other items of clothing as they hit my bed. "Hurry up and get dressed, I will be back in fifteen with breakfast and then we will go to our first class together, oh and here's your schedule."

I uncovered my face and saw her leave it on my desk before she walked out. I sighed and stood up, knowing she was _not_ going to let me get away with this one.

I dressed in the clothes she left for me, a pair of dark faded, semi-ripped skinny jeans, a thick striped black and white v-neck tee, and a navy cardigan. Comfortable clothes. My best friend definitely knew me. I threw on some red TOMS and brushed through my long, dark brown hair, I was glad it was naturally wavy. My curiosity had been growing while I was getting ready so I grabbed my schedule and looked at it, hoping it was going to be okay.

_1st Period - Russian 2_

_2nd Period - American Colonia l Literature_

_3rd Period - Essentials of Fire Magic_

_4th Period - Ancient Poetry_

_-Lunch-_

_5th Period - Psychology_

_6th Period - Advanced Calculus_

_7th Period - Moroi Culture 4_

_8th Period - Culinary Science_

I was pretty excited for the specialized Fire class, but Advanced Calculus? Really? I jumped a little as Lissa opened the door, barging in.

"Okay, I got you an apple and a blueberry scone," she said as she put the two items in my hand. "Eat while we walk to our first class."

"Wait, we have it together?" I asked quickly as she pulled me out of my room, my backpack in my other hand. She didn't answer, I took it as a yes. Lissa was a total nerd, she loved school. I ate my scone quickly, deciding to save my apple for later and definitely wishing she would've gotten me a breakfast burrito or something with meat. But along with being a nerd she believed in eating healthy, although as a Moroi it was really hard to gain weight.

As we entered the main building in St. Vlad's we were instantly engulfed in a hall packed full with Moroi students. Moroi and Dhampir students were separated during the morning classes and then we came together during the afternoon. So in this building there were only Moroi, now was the time for Dhampir novice Guardians to train and it was the Moroi's time to train in our separate element classes. Liss had it off so she could go with Adrian or to the library to read up on Spirit. Since Spirit magic was so rare, the academy didn't really have a need to have a Spirit course, it was pretty much unheard of until Lissa realized it was what she had. There were 'rumors' but no one ever really knew what it was. As I walked into the room, Jesse Zeklos smiled up at me and I smiled back, he was a popular Royal Moroi and he was really cute. But he was very much an asshole and a womanizer, so we all knew it was best to stay away from him.

Liss and I sat in the back row behind Christian and Jill. Jill Mastrano is a non-royal Moroi but had joined our group last year, she's a Water user and she volunteered to fight alongside the Guardians too. I was guessing I'd see her at the after school sessions and I was glad that a few friends would be there, including my novice Guardian friends.

Classes went by quickly but they were boring, all we heard was the same school rules we hear during every first day of class at St. Vladimir's and it was getting pretty old. But then I_finally _got to my Essentials of Fire Magic class and I was excited again.

I saw the same people I saw every year, but this time there was someone new. He was tall, 6'3 maybe, sandy brown hair, and bright green eyes. It was the bright green eyes that got me though, it reminded me of someone. Priscilla Voda? When he looked at me I knew that he was most definitely a Voda, Priscilla Voda was the Princess of the Voda family, Royals (obviously) - and she was Queen Tatiana's best friend. I'd met her numerous times, but it was weird that I'd never met him. He smiled at me and I let a small smile show on my face as I walked over to him.

"Princess Rose Hathaway?" he asked, catching me by surprise. He knew who I was.

"You know my name?"

He chuckled, "My mother knew you, she spoke about you often."

"Knew? Did something happen to her?" I asked quickly and saw that something _had_happened to her with the look on his face.

"She passed two days ago, her memorial will be later in the week."

My eyes widened with surprise, why hadn't I heard of this? I placed my hand on his, "Priscilla Voda was a great woman, I'm sorry for your loss, I know how it is to lose a parent."

He nodded and to my surprise, smiled, "Thanks Princess."

"You can call me Rose, I'm not just the Princess," I said playfully, I couldn't get mad at this complete stranger for calling me something my friends knew I hated.

"I'm Aleksander Voda, but you can call me Aleksander, I'm not just the Prince," he said with a playful mocking tone as he smirked at me. I was beginning to like this guy. I guess he was the Prince now, since Princess Voda was gone. That was still hard to believe.

I said I'd talk to him later and walked over to Christian, sitting beside him. We hadn't been the best of friends because I was protective over Lissa and they'd had some rough times but we had an understanding: We would sit together in our Fire classes. He could be pretty fun and we were both alike, like in the way we'd both like to start trouble. Our sophomore year, when we were in Basics of Elemental Control, he lit his book on fire and didn't stop until it was ash. I thought it was hilarious and tried the same thing a few days later while he sat out of class, and then I sat out of the class with him.

We had an in-class friendship, or acquaintance-ship, throughout sophomore year. Then our junior year came around and he met Lissa, it was off from there. I was happy for them, but I was even happier that she had gotten over the 90% Christian-Time and 10% Rose-Time, now it was 50/50. I could deal with that.

When the teacher walked in, Christian and I smiled at each other. I'd forgotten that Ms. Carmack was a Fire user. She had been our teacher in Basics of Elemental Control and we'd given her many headaches during our 'immature' stage. She scanned the room with her attendance sheet in hand, her face got even paler as she saw me and Christian sitting together, I couldn't help but laughing softly. That earned me looks, and as Aleksander Voda looked at me he smirked. I waved and smiled, looking back at Ms. Carmack as she began stating the rules of the class. These were new, so I reluctantly got out my journal and began taking notes.

Only one rule stood out to me: _No burning books/school property. _I smiled and looked over at Christian, he was smiling too. We'd gotten a rule made because of us, I realized I was going to love this class.

* * *

**I had decided to create a character named Aleksander Voda for fun and as I was researching Priscilla Voda online, I realized that she really did have a family member named Alexander, _and he became Prince after her_! It's spelled differently, but I just want to make it clear that this isn't the same character. He's created partially from my imagination and partially from someone I know :3**

**I hope you guys enjoyed, I have so much fun writing this story! And seeing your reviews just make it that much better! :) You guys are unbelievably amazing, I think I'll throw in some Masons and Christians!**

**How about we get it to 60 REVIEWS this time? :) I know y'all can do it!**

**ERICA**


	5. Chapter 5

**So do I feel like a horrible person or what? :( I am so sorry everyone, it was my last week home before coming back to college and I spent it all with family and friends. I'm back in my dorm and back to writing!**

**I wrote an EXTRA long one to make up for my horrible updating this past week. Hope you guys can forgive me! I'll give you some Ambroses and Blakes? We all know they were good enough for the Queen, I'd totally take it if I were you! ;)**

**Okay, back to the situation. New chapter, more of Aleksander! :3 Yum, haha. ENJOY!**

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At the end of class, Aleksander met up with me in the hall and I didn't mind. I think I was going to get used to his smiling face.

"So why the laughing in class, Hathaway?" he asked and my smile grew wider.

"During our sophomore year, Christian Ozera and I both burned books during Basics of Elemental Control, Ms. Carmack taught it then also," it felt good to tell someone who didn't know. It felt even better when he cracked up laughing.

"You got a rule made after you? You definitely are a royal," he said, chuckling and shaking his head.

I couldn't help but laugh and shrug, "Christian did it first, I just found it interesting so I followed."

He looked over at me as we walked up the stairs, "What class do you have now?"

"Ancient Poetry."

"Exciting," he said sarcastically with a smirk.

"Unbelievably! What about you?" We had gotten to the second floor and he was beginning to head left as I headed right.

"American Colonial Literature, I'm very excited."

I laughed and walked backwards slowly, "Have fun, it's pretty boring, I had it this morning."

"Will do Rose," he said, smiling. "See you later?"

"Hope so, bye Aleksander!"

He nodded and waved, turning around and walking into his class. I was still smiling when I walked into my class, Aleksander Voda was a nice addition to St. Vlad's, but I was still wondering why I hadn't met him, or even heard of him. Maybe Priscilla hadn't wanted him? He seemed to care a whole much about his mother's death.. Who wouldn't Rose? I sighed at my conscience.

Throughout the rest of Ancient Poetry I debated his story, but as the bell rang I decided that I would give up my guessing and just ask him later. My stomach growled and I was glad that it was finally lunch time. I really hoped there wasn't a long line at the feeders' building. I'd have to deal with just regular food for now, unfortunately.

Dimitri was the first thing I saw as I hit the first floor, he was standing outside the doors and his 6'7" stature stood out among all the Moroi students walking out. Although Moroi were naturally tall, there weren't many that were as tall as Dimitri. His shoulder length brown hair was tied back and his face was serious, but he was handsome either way. I was guessing it was time he began guarding me again since morning classes were over.

* * *

Lissa met me at the dining hall's doors, immediately asking questions about Aleksander Voda, why he was here, if he was nice, etc. I didn't think she was interested in him 'romantically' simply because she was gaga for Christian; she was just a curious person.

"He's the son of Priscilla Voda, he's back for her memorial," I said as we sat down. "Did you know she recently passed?"

Her face was as shocked as I had felt when Aleksander had told me, so apparently she didn't know – "I had no idea! How did she die?"

"No idea, but Aleksander is back from wherever he'd been for it and I'm guessing your parents should be calling soon, all the royals are supposed to be there. We should probably start making plans."

"I guess so," she said quietly, looking down at her apple and yogurt. "It's so sad.."

"Hey," I said and touched her arm, her spirit could get to her and I regretted telling her. She was so sensitive and anything could set off her depressive state. "It'll be alright, besides, Aleksander Voda is definitely nice to look at, and he's a Fire user."

She smiled reluctantly, it was only half forced, "Possible boyfriend?"

I rolled my eyes and smiled, "Oh Lissa.. Aleksander is-"

"What about me?" I heard a voice say and I turned quickly. Of course Aleksander Voda would be behind me when we were talking about whether or not he was dateable.

"Aleksander! Hey, uh this is my best friend Lissa, Lissa Dragomir. Lissa, meet Aleksander Voda." I was horrible at introductions and this wasn't an exception.

Lissa stood up quickly and gave him a hug, sitting back down quickly. Aleksander looked a little shocked at her quick affection, she was nothing like me, but he just shrugged.

"You can join us if you'd like, our other friends should be here, I can introduce you to everyone," I said with a smile and he nodded, sitting down beside me. It felt comfortable sitting beside him, whether it was because he was a Fire user like me or I just thought he was cool, but I liked having him around.

I got the apple out of my bag from the morning and began eating it slowly, halfway through it Christian, Mason, and Eddie came walking over to the table and sat down across from me. They were looking at Aleksander and Lissa who were in a conversation I wasn't listening to. Hopefully Lissa wasn't doing anything to embarrass me; it'd be just like her. You just gotta love her though.

"Who's he?" Mason asked me as he noticed how close Aleksander was sitting to me.

"Mase, this is Aleksander Voda," I said with a hand motion to him, Aleksander turned and waved a little.

"Wait, he's Prince Voda?"

"Yes, he's now the Prince, why?"

He shrugged and looked at him, I could tell he was still peeved but he had to respect royals, "Sorry about your mom, dude."

Aleksander nodded with a small smile and I laughed softly, only Mason would say dude to a Prince. I was guessing that's what Aleksander was smiling at.

"Will you and Lissa be at the court this weekend?"

I hoped we would, I looked at Lissa and she nodded, "Most likely my parents will be attending, no doubt, so I'll call them after classes and ask them."

"My mother would've appreciated it, she loved attention," he said playfully with a bit of sadness, I felt the urge to put my hand on his again, but I decided against it.

I'm guessing Christian felt the need to change the subject to a happier one, so he began to tell everyone about Ms. Carmack creating a rule after me and him. Everyone began laughing and we spent the rest of the lunch period telling stories. I looked over at Aleksander as Mason told him a story of his first surprise test junior year and I couldn't help but smile. I was unbelievably glad that my group had accepted Aleksander so easily. Especially Mason, I knew how he could be when it came to new guy friends for me.

* * *

Dimitri followed me to the rest of my classes. Psychology was pretty boring, I almost made Mr. Williams, the Advanced Calculus teacher, create a rule about burning books in his class too. It was unbelievably boring and I almost got a headache from that one class. Gladly, I had Lissa, Mason, Eddie, and Christian for Moroi Culture 4. It wasn't as boring with friends. And then came Culinary Science, a Fire user in a cooking class was pretty funny.

As I walked in I was disappointed to see that I had no friends in this class, just acquaintances. But before the bell rang Aleksander walked in and I saluted him, smirking. He laughed and came to sit beside me.

"Hey Princess," he said and I shook my head, smiling.

"Prince," I said with a wink, looking over at Dimitri and seeing him staring at us intently. I wonder what his deal was.

"Two Fire users partners in a cooking class, this should be fun," I said and looked forward as the teacher walked in.

It definitely was fun, Mrs. Johns was going to have her hands full. Her first assignment for us was actually hands on, she wanted us to make any dish of our choice that we wanted to.

Aleksander and I chose a BLT/Grilled cheese sandwich, a combination of our favorite. We placed bacon on the pan and when Mrs. Johns wasn't looking I formed a small fire in my hand and opened my palm wider above the pan, letting it engulf the bacon until it was cooked. Aleksander laughed and got another pan, placing two pieces of bread with cheese on it and held it on his palm, forming a fire. As I heard it sizzle a little I giggled and looked at him, he was concentrating not to set the pan on fire and I watched with delight. It was like I was a little girl watching him do a magic trick. Once he was finished I cut some lettuce and tomatoes and placed it in the grilled cheese along with the bacon and then cut it in half across the sandwich. I placed the sandwich halves on a plate and placed it at the edge of the table as Mrs. Johns walked to our table, she cut it into another half and took a bite.

"Very good Rose and Aleksander," she said with a satisfied smile. We nodded and tried not to laugh, I had a feeling this class was going to be my favorite.

When she walked away, I gave Aleksander a high five and I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Once the bell rang I looked over at Dimitri and he had a serious look on his face. Had he seen me? Of course he had, he was only here to watch me. Great.

I said bye to Aleksander and invited him to my room for dinner later, we had planned to have pizza and other snacks in my room for a kick-off party type of thing. He agreed he'd go and he looked genuinely happy, it made me feel good. When I met Dimitri at the doorway and he shook his head.

"Princess, do you know how dangerous that was back there? What if you two hadn't been able to control it?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed, "First of all Belikov, call me Rose, not that 'Princess' crap. Second, I'm not so immature that I would put everyone in danger, I've been studying fire for three years, it's fine. Besides, Aleksander was the one who did most of it."

He shook his head again but left the subject alone, "We will talk about your schedule with the Fire users tomorrow morning and you will begin training with them next week, but we will continue our training in the morning."

"Okay, sounds good," I said and hoped we weren't going to be running again. I began walking towards the feeders' building and he just followed, no questions asked - for that I was thankful.

* * *

After I went to the feeders I went straight to my room and took a nap, I had forgotten all about how sore I was because of how busy the day had been. But my body thanked me as I lay under the covers and closed my eyes. Then it yelled at me like crazy as I heard loud knocks on my door. If it was Dimitri I was going to stake _him_.

I got up and opened the door, sighing. It was Lissa, Christian, Mia, Jill, Mason, and Eddie.

"Wow Rose, you look like crap," Eddie said without thinking and I glared at him. Mason punched him in the arm and I turned around, giving Eddie the finger. I heard Christian chuckle and Mia giggle as everyone followed me inside.

"Dimitri out there?"

"No, Alberta stopped following me around 100% of the time too," Lissa said with a shrug. "Apparently it was just a precaution for a few days, but now that we're getting into school Dimitri and the other Guardians have the novices to train."

I nodded; they were beginning to trust us.

"I ordered the pizza, it should be getting here in the next 15 minutes," Christian said as he sat on my desk. Mia and Jill were on the floor against the wall, Mason and Eddie were on the couch, and Lissa was on my bed that she had just fixed up. She was seriously like a mom sometimes.

I sat beside her and rested against the headboard, just as I was getting comfortable there was another knock at the door. Really? I got up and opened the door, hoping it was the pizza guy, but it wasn't. it was Aleksander. I smiled and opened my door a little wider, "Come on in, Prince."

He smiled and walked in, greeting everyone. Lissa and Christian looked a little shocked that I'd invited him but they were happy; unlike Mason who had a mad look on his face. Guys are stupid.

Aleksander sat in the small one-person couch across the bed and we began talking. I wanted to know his story but I probably shouldn't ask in front of everyone.

When the pizza got here we put in the Social Network on my large plasma screen TV and watched it as we ate, Lissa and I thought Jesse Eisenberg was cute in a dorky way and the guys were in love with Brenda Song, well.. Her boobs. It was a blast and Aleksander seemed to have a good time too. I'm not sure why but I felt like I needed to help him cheer up since I'd lost my parents too.

Everyone left a few hours later and Aleksander stayed to help me clean up. I thought this was the perfect time to ask him about his story.

"I went to a school like St. Vlad's in Russia since I was little, it's different over there and my mother liked it for me better than here even though I'd be far from her," he said and sat down on the long couch, I sat beside him and turned, facing him with my legs against my chest. "I learned my power when I was 14 and began training with elder Fire users to control it and fight with it."

My eyes widened, he started training that early? Queen Tatiana had just begun allowing us to do it here. I was going to ask him how he did it but he continued on with his story.

"Throughout this past spring I began hunting down Strigoi with a team of Guardians throughout Russia, along with an Alchemist, and I used my Fire training to kill most of them. It worked perfectly. My mother hadn't agreed with it but when she found out how well I was doing she began convincing Queen Tatiana and the rest of the council about it and that's how Moroi fighting alongside Guardians came to be accepted and encouraged."

I could tell that talking about his mom was making him a little upset so I placed my hand on his and he looked up at me and smiled. We sat there for another hour, talking. I felt like I'd known him forever, and I liked how our friendship was turning out. When it was about 8AM, he decided to leave, so I walked him to the door and as I opened it I was surprised by a hug from him. I laughed softly and waved at him as he left, turning to my right and jumping a little at the sight of Dimitri.

"You know the rules, Rose," he said sternly.

I looked at him oddly, what was up his butt? "Goodnight, Guardian Belikov." I said and shut the door hard. My Guardian could be a serious pain in the ass, but wow did he look good in the sunlight. I laughed at myself, when did I become such a girl? I undressed and got into my bed, laying down and pulling the covers over myself. This was going to be an exciting week.

* * *

**Hope you guys liked and forgive me for updating so late! Now that I'm back in school it'll probably be one post a week or something of that nature. But I totally love you guys for passing my goal of reviews once again. You're reviews motivate me like nothing else, so thank you so much!**

**Should there be something between Aleksander and Rose? Give me your opinions! :)**

**I'm working on Chapter 6 now! - So how about.. 80 REVIEWS? I think y'all can do it! :3 You guys rock.**

**ERICA**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm back I'm back I'm backkkk! :] Haha, here's another chapter. I'll let you get on with it ;)**

**ENJOY!**

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The week went by pretty quickly. Lissa's parents had said that they would be flying us to the Court on Friday after school for the memorial that evening. I told Aleksander and he was happy, but he seemed anxious. He and I became closer the next few days and it was becoming a routine, seeing him in class, at lunch, and at dinner – our group became used to him also. Mason even softened up to him a little, but I could also tell that Mason wasn't all over me like before.

Training with Dimitri was getting consistent and it was making me pretty mad, Friday was going to be my last day of training since we were going up to the Court for the memorial, and we would be starting back up on Monday.

When my last class of the day was done Lissa and I grabbed our packed suit cases and bags, loaded into a limo with Dimitri and Alberta, and then we were finally on our way to the airport. Thankfully, being a royal gave you your own private jet. Lissa and I met Andre once we stepped onto the plane and he gave us both big hugs. Andre was like my brother, I loved him for taking care of me even though we weren't blood related. We would be at the Court til Sunday night and then we'd be going back to St. Vlad's, unfortunately. Aleksander had left this morning to get ready for the memorial and since Lissa's parents thought it was unnecessary for us to miss classes we were going at this time.

Once we landed in the Court's own runway we were immediately sent to our rooms to unpack and get ready for this evening's memorial. When we arrived at our rooms we were glad to see that they were conjoined, this would definitely be sleepover time. Christian was across the hall from us, along with his aunt, Tasha Ozera, who's also a Fire user. And it was an hour and a half until the memorial, fun fun.

Lissa helped me curl my hair and I helped her curl hers also, then I put on some light make-up with a light pink lip gloss, and then I got dressed into a black sweater that went about two and a half inches above my knee, some black floral lace patterned tights, and black glitter heels from Juicy Couture that I loved. I added some bangles and earrings and grabbed my white coat, waiting for Lissa to be ready. I put my phone and my room key in my grey velvet bow clutch from Juicy (I just love that store.)

We met up with Dimitri and Alberta as we walked out of the room and I slid on my coat before beginning the walk to the other side of court. I could feel Dimitri looking at me so I looked over at him and smiled, he was totally looking at me. Lissa and I's heels clicked as we walked in sync towards the memorial and when we arrived at the chapel we were greeted by Aleksander's fake-smiling face. I frowned a little and hugged him tight, it felt like he didn't want to let go but when we heard Dimitri clear his throat we pulled back. I held his hand for a second before walking into the church, linking arms with Lissa as we joined her parents and Andre in one of the front pews. The four first pews on each side were always for the royals. I took off my coat and placed it beside me when Queen Tatiana Ivashkov went up to the podium and began speaking about her best friend, Priscilla Voda.

Aleksander's speech spoke about all the wonderful things he'd been telling me about his mom throughout the past few days we'd hung out, and I admired how strong he was. I don't think I could've ever done that with my parents' memorial. Once the memorial was over we went to the main building of the Court to have a get together of types. There was food, drinking, talking, really boring stuff. I would've gone back to my room if I wasn't so hungry. Lissa and Christian had run off to go be love birds alone so I walked alone as I stepped inside the ballroom, seeing royals and non-royals of all types, along with Guardians around. I spotted Aleksander at a table by himself, he looked upset.

I walked over to him and sat beside him, he smiled at me. "I forgot to tell you that you look absolutely beautiful, Rose."

"Thanks Aleksander," I said with a smile that couldn't be helped, and then placed my hand on his. "Are you okay?"

He shrugged and I stood up, pulling him up with me. "Where are we going?"

I smiled and held his hand as I walked to the food table, "We are going to get some food and then we are going to my room."

"What about your Guardian? Belikov?"

"He's off mingling with the other Guardians, I'm supposed to be here all night, now come on," I said and looked at him as I started piling food onto my plate. "Would you rather be stuck here with people saying 'Sorry for your loss, Prince,' a thousand times or in my room, having a one-on-one with me and watching a movie?"

Aleksander smiled, "You make it hard to say no you know that?"

"I know, I'm irresistible," I said with a smirk and he chuckled as he got food on his plate too.

When we were done serving ourselves we looked around and saw that Dimitri was in a deep conversation with Tasha Ozera, which was kind of odd. He was laughing and smiling, did they have something going on? I felt a small pang of jealousy; I'd only gotten a smile out of Dimitri. Tasha was getting a whole lot of emotions. Aleksander touched my arm and motioned we leave with his head, I nodded and like the sneaky Moroi we were, we escaped.

* * *

When we walked into my room/suite, we placed our plates on the table and took our coats off. I sat down on my bed and rested my back against the headboard, crossing my legs at the ankles with my plate on my lap. I patted the spot beside me and Aleksander sat beside me, sitting cross legged and looking much more comfortable than I did. Stupid dresses.

I turned on the TV and found Zombieland playing on HBO, I knew every line and I said every line while we ate. Aleksander had never seen it and he was laughing his butt off. Once we were finished eating we were half way through the movie and my head was on his shoulder.

"You know, zombies kind of remind me of Strigoi.." he said randomly, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

Being this close with someone I'd only known a few days was a bit weird, but I couldn't deny that I enjoyed his company. He was like a boyfriend without the title or the stress of one. I laughed at what he said, "You know, they kind of are like Strigoi, except Strigoi can talk and are much smarter."

He nodded and we bickered throughout the rest of the movie, laughing at parts, especially where Jesse Eisenberg accidentally shoots Bill Murray. That was priceless.

By the time the movie was over Aleksander and I were lying down, my head on his chest and his arms around me. I knew he needed this closeness after the difficult day he had and I just liked being around him. It was a win-win.

When Aleksander and I got to the point of talking about his mom, I could feel his chest shaking when he stopped speaking. I knew he was crying and I felt horrible, I raised myself above him and looked at him. "Aleksander… I know how it feels to lose a parent, it's unbelievably painful." I hugged him and held him as he cried it out. He was the only one left in the Voda family; we were in the same situation. And I knew at that moment that he needed someone to be there for him, and I was going to be that person. He was my best friend, although Lissa would always be number one, Aleksander and I would always have something in common that no one else would ever have with me.

After I'd held him for a good fifteen minutes I looked up and saw him staring down at me, I smiled and he leaned down, before I knew it his lips were against mine. I kissed him back, I was shocked and I'd been attracted to him since day one. His lips were amazing and he definitely knew how to kiss, I fell back onto the bed and he followed me, hovering over me and massaging my tongue with his. We were panting and rubbing against each other, our lips attacking the others in the heat of the moment. It was like fire, no pun intended. For a moment I wondered if it felt like this because we were two Fire users, but then he began kissing my neck and all thoughts in my head disappeared and I moaned out.

My legs fell open and wrapped around his waist, that move would be the death of me. My sweater dress rose up my thighs and now my lace tights were completely visible, as was the black thong beneath it. That's when his fingers trailed up my inner thigh and to a spot only another person had been, through my tights and panties he rubbed me and made me squirm like a mad woman. I gasped for breath and panted his name, clinging to him like I was about to fall until he kissed me again. He began to pull my tights down when a door opened.

He jumped up and I struggled to sit up, my legs weak from his rubbing. We looked up at the door and saw that it wasn't the front door that had been opened but the conjoining door to Lissa's room. And there stood Dimitri Belikov, staring us down like we'd committed the biggest crime in the world.

* * *

**Uh ohhh, haha. I'm so sorry for the taking forever to post again. I started up with my second semester of college and it got really busy really fast. But with three snow days which I've been _very_ excited about (I don't get snow in southwest Texas, now I'm in north :P) I've had time to write! I hope you guys enjoyed and forgive me for taking forever to post again.**

**So Aleksander and Rose, eh? ;) I think he's pretty sexy. Whenever I think of him I think of Alex Pettyfer with dark hair, mmm :3 Alex Pettyfer is FINEEEE, google him! I think I'll have an Aleksander Voda give away if I get 95 REVIEWS! Think y'all can do it? I think so! Oh yeah, I might wait til I get that number to post again, we'll see!**

**Another big thing is I created a blog on BLOGSPOT(dot)com for this wonderful story of mine so I can inform y'all when I won't be able to post or so I can talk to everyone about latest VA news and such! ;) I also want to begin putting photos of Rose's outfits and other things from each chapter. I have photos of Rose's dress, tights, shoes, and clutch already up there, so check it out! It's on my profile, just click on my name and it will take you there and the link will be on that page! You don't need an account or anything, although you do need one to post stuff. I think. – If you have a GMAIL account just type that right in to the sign-in and you'll be logged in through that.**

**Question #1: I know things heated up with Aleksander and Rose but I kind of wanted to take it farther and more descriptive if anything happens later between any other couple! So should I make this story Rated M? Would you guys, my wonderful readers, stick with me and would I still get as much of a reading crowd as I do now? Please help! I take your opinions to heart, in a good way :P**

**And FINALLY, a big thank you to everyone for reading and sticking with me. I hope you visit that blog, it's totally not a virus thingy or anything else. Just a way of using technology to my advantage to get closer to you guys!**

**You guys rock!**

**ERICA**


	7. Chapter 7

**And I am back! I can't believe I hit 100 reviews, woowoo! Go me, go my readers, you rock. :b Shall we continue with the story? I think we shall.**

* * *

The look on Dimitri's face was actually pretty frightening, if you were me (which you should be really glad about, btw!) The next few minutes felt like a few years, Aleksander stood up beside my bed and I straightened my dress.

Dimitri's hands clenched and unclenched as he began to speak, "I thought you were going to stay in the ballroom all night?"

"It was boring, Belikov, and haven't you ever heard of knocking?" I replied with a snarky tone, _mistake #1._

"Princess Hathaway, do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Most Guardians are in the ballroom and ones that aren't are busy at the gates, what if Strigoi had gotten through? I'm not here to protect you."

"Then the Guardians aren't doing their job!" _Mistake #2. _"Plus, Aleksander has had training, I'm sure he could've protected me just as much, so would you just calm down?" _Mistake #3._

Aleksander opened his mouth to speak but Dimitri stopped him, "Prince, I'm very sorry for your loss and I know it must be unbelievably hard for you right now, but I must ask you to leave the Princess's room, now."

I gaped at Dimitri and then at Aleksander as he nodded at me and walked out quickly, I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at my damn Guardian, _what the hell was his problem!_

"Am I going to have to begin following you everywhere 100% of the time? Guardian Petrov wouldn't mind taking over my class," he said with a glare as deep as mine.

"This is completely ridiculous, I'm seventeen years old! You're not my father and you're not the boss of me!" The thought of Dimitri in any way blood-related to me was pretty gross since I found him so damn gorgeous.

"No, I'm not, but I _am _here to protect you and that's what I am going to do Rose!"

"Fine, but there's no need to shoo a guy out of my room, he's not Strigoi, he's a guy who just lost his mom and I'm his friend!" I was now shouting and I stood up, face-to-face with Dimitri, and we were pretty close to each other. I could see a vein in his neck moving with his anger and his fists were clenched.

He stared down at me, his nostrils flared and then his entire demeanor changed, all of a sudden it's like he was looking at me completely differently and I could see a flood of emotions in his eyes. For a second I felt too close to him, I felt like I wanted to kiss him. I think he felt a too, which is most likely why he pulled away. "Warn me, next time you leave Princess, I will be back in the morning," he said and turned around like a soldier, walking out of the room.

What the hell had just happened?

* * *

I grabbed my phone and texted Aleksander, he promised we'd see each other tomorrow and I apologized to him for Dimitri's behavior. I couldn't believe how relieved I was that he wasn't mad at me. We continued our conversation until it was late enough to go to sleep. But did I get to sleep? No. Lissa barged into my room through the conjoining door; I wish people would seriously stop doing that.

She, being my best friend, had tons of questions. If he was a good kisser, what was it like, what made it happen? And then she went on and on about how she knew I had a connection with him. I nodded and mumbled replies, my eyes never opening, and eventually I drifted off.

"Ugh, Rose! Rose!" she said, shaking me awake.

"Liss! You kiss Christian **all **the time, I kiss someone and BAM! It's like news to get to TMZ or something! Calm the eff down!" The moment I said it I regretted it, she'd woken me up and all I could think about was Aleksander, and then Dimitri, and more Dimitri. How he was looking at me and how I felt a pull in my heart as he stared at me with his eyes. _Back to Lissa, Rose! _"Wait, sorry… You know how I hate when you wake me up, look, nothing happened, just kissing. And Dimitri stopped it anyway. How did you find out?"

"I overheard Dimitri telling Alberta, he was pretty pissed."

I nodded, "He was…"

"Can I stay in here tonight? Please?"

"Sure, but I'm crashing as soon as I get pajamas on," I said and stood up reluctantly, reaching for my suitcase as my best friend went to her conjoined room and changed also.

Once we were both changed, we laid on my large king size bed and talked for a few minutes before we both drifted off to sleep. I dreamed of Dimitri and he was happy, we were happy, because we were together. My conscience was wondering why I was dreaming of my mentor instead of Aleksander, but I just went on with the dream, completely content.

* * *

The next morning Lissa woke me up, and I was glad that it was around the time I'd wake up on a regular weekend, she usually made me wake up early if we had a sleepover; so I was happy.

I took a quick shower and got dressed in some dark faded skinny jeans, a light blue and white vertical striped button up, collar shirt from American Eagle, and knee high tan flat boots. I dried my hair and let it down, it had small waves in it so I left it, it looked good and I was lazy, sue me. Lissa was wearing a teal sweater dress with brown tights and tan Ugg boots, she always looked so cute. I laughed at the thought and told her she looked cute, which got her laughing too.

"Come on, I know you have a girl crush on me but I want to at least make it to brunch," she said with a wink as she grabbed her bag and opened my door, waiting for me to go out first.

"Yeah yeah," I said and grabbed my cell phone and room key, walking out and linking arms with her. I felt like someone was watching me so I turned around and spotted Dimitri about 10 feet behind us, he was back to being my full-time Guardian I guess.

I knew it was immature but I glared at him and turned when Lissa slapped my hand when she saw what I was doing, "What? He so deserves a glare."

She chuckled, "I know, but you need some food in you or Dimitri Belikov will be on fire." She whispered, "And the Moroi royals just can't afford to lose a hunky Guardian like that."

I smirked and shook my head, now I remembered why we were best friends. Once we got to the ballroom, which had been cleaned from last night's party and was now hosting royals dressed in casual clothing, along with caterers of brunch food.

I grabbed a plate and began loading my plate with all types of fruit and then some waffles and bacon. When the server only gave me two slices of bacon I looked at him like he was stupid, so he put two more and I smiled.

"Thank you," I said and turned around, running into Aleksander.

"Hungry, Princess?" he said with a smirk and I laughed.

"Yeah, I had a tiring night," I winked at him and started walking away, turning around to look at him. "Come join us, Prince, I request your presence."

He laughed and went to the bacon guy, who doesn't like bacon? As I sat down next to Lissa we were joined by Christian and then Aleksander, who sat beside me.

"Nice shirt," he said as he touched the hem, right by my hip. I laughed and bumped shoulders with him.

"Nice face," I smirked.

He chuckled and shook his head, putting his hand on mine and squeezing it a little, "I like you Rose."

That caught me off guard, but I smiled and tried not to blush as I replied, "I like you too, Aleksander." I did, but as I looked up and saw Dimitri staring us down, looking at my face then my hand covered by Aleksander, I was afraid that I didn't like him as much as I liked someone else – someone who made me so mad that I could punch something, someone who annoyed me when he bossed me around, my Guardian.

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**I know this was pretty short but I have exams coming up and wanted to get another chapter up. You guys are amazing! I still can't believe I now have more than 100 reviews, I am so happy to have such awesome readers :D Keep reviewing, out of 75+ people who have my story on alert, at least 1/3 of you guys could be reviewing when you read this :3 So do it, it makes me happy and makes me write faster! :)**

**You guys are flippin' awesome, I love you allll!**

**Oh, I UPDATED MY BLOGGG!**** Pictures of Alex Pettyfer as Aleksander Voda and VA news and all that stuff, check it check it! ;)**

**ERICA**


	8. Chapter 8

**I know this took me a while, but with exams and work and lots and lots of papers, it just wasn't possible to write! I thankfully wrote this in my two out of three lecture classes today, YAY MULTI-TASKING! **

**This includes some Rated Mature stuff – which I wrote 'warnings' about just in case you want to skip over it, but why would you! JK :P**

**Hope you enjoy it! I enjoyed writing it!**

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That night we were planning to go to Adrian's loft in the middle of the Court that he had for being the Queen's favorite nephew. Adrian was over 21 and immature, therefore we underage people were going to get some drinking done tonight. This called for sneaking out, once again, to get away from Dimitri because I was 102% sure that he would absolutely _kill_ me if I were to drink, or attempt do anything fun.

Lissa and I were in my room, getting dressed once again and chatting about Aleksander. She wasn't paying attention to us when he confessed his 'like' to me, so she was both shocked and excited. I rolled my eyes as I slid up my black tights and then put on a white over-sized, button up, collared shirt that went mid-thigh and then my knee high tan boots that I'd worn earlier. I straightened my hair and grabbed my phone, texting Aleksander to head over there.

"Ready?" Lissa asked and opened the back window of my room.

I nodded and watched her climb out, then climbed up right behind her and landed on my feet on the outside. She gasped as she saw a guardian at the corner but I smiled and nodded at him, and then looked at her sternly for freaking out.

Adrian's loft was not too far away so we ran the way there silently and walked through the front door.

"Princess! How nice of you to join us," Adrian said while he and Christian sat on the couch. I saw Aleksander walk into the room from the hallway and he smiled and hugged me. I hugged him back tightly and sat beside him, resting my leg on his and sighing, relaxed with my best friend with me.

It felt a bit weird being in my ex-boyfriend's loft with another guy not even an inch away from me, but Adrian didn't seem to mind. Adrian soon grabbed a bottle of Malibu coconut rum and began making the girls piña coladas while the guys drank beer. I rolled my eyes and clinked glasses with Lissa.

"Cheers!" we said with a smile and the night was off.

* * *

And a few piña coladas later we were laughing our butts off at nothing while Adrian watched us; he was such a calm drunk – although he does drink his weight in alcohol every day.

Aleksander's hand kept going farther and farther up my leg and thigh as he drank more and more beer – I didn't push it away. Once, I looked over I found Lissa and Christian practically having sex on the other couch, my nose scrunched up and I looked over at Aleksander, leaning over and kissing him deeply. My mistake; We were quickly moving towards a very hot make out session that made me hot all over – it might've been too much coconut rum but Aleksander Voda was beyond sexy to me at the moment and I was going to take advantage of that.

Adrian cleared his throat after a few minutes and I reluctantly pulled away, "My cousin and the fire boy decided to run off to her room – I guess she ditched you."

I looked around, disbelieving, and gasped, "That bitch."

Adrian chuckled and Aleksander continued to kiss my neck as I talked to him, which made it harder to concentrate on my conversation even more in my drunken state.

"Little princess, I think my guest room will be of use to you tonight – if not you can keep the living room, I think I'm going to call some services," by services he meant a feeder who will also sleep with you – they're like human bloodwhores.

I scrunched my nose and nodded, my stomach growling at the thought of blood, "Thanks Ivashkov."

He nodded with a smirk and walked into the hallway and into his room, leaving me alone with Aleksander.

***WARNING: RATED M***

We looked at each other and he began unbuttoning my shirt, my back arched and he let it fall open. He kissed me as he lifted my bra, revealing my breasts and I let out a whimper as he pinched my nipples. Aleksander began kissing down my neck, brushing his fangs against my skin and making me shiver, then he brushed his fangs against my nipples and I let out a loud moan. I'd always loved when Adrian did that to me last year – I gasped as his teeth sunk into me (Moroi's skin is too tough for fangs to break through with just a light bite, only Strigoi's can) and he bit, sucked, and licked all over my most sensitive spots on my breasts. My hand sunk into his hair and I squirmed and whimpered. My entire body was on fire, if I wasn't watching him I would've thought that his mouth and hands were on fire.

My breathing got louder and faster, the buzzed feeling in my head and stomach was slowly being replaced with the feeling of complete and utter arousal. It had been months since I'd done anything near what Aleksander and I were doing, since Adrian, and my body was definitely enjoying this.

My growing arousal was also slowly sobering me up and a part of me began thinking that we were taking advantage of our drunken state to act upon our attraction to each other. Unfortunately, as I was thinking all of this I didn't realize that Aleksander had actually gotten my leggings and panties off – something he hadn't achieved the night before – and as his mouth disappeared between my legs I cried out and arched into him as I gasped. I wanted to stop him but my body liked this way too much. I was moaning uncontrollably and as his long, pale fingers disappeared into me with his mouth above them I lost all control and pulled and tugged at the couch, most likely ripping it in the process of screaming his name over and over as I finally climaxed. I flopped down onto the couch and panted, trying to catch my breath and soon Aleksander came up to capture my lips in his. I had to pull away since I still hadn't gotten my breath to normal.

***END OF RATED M***

"Wow..." I whispered softly as I buried myself deeper into Aleksander's body after a few minutes of silence.

I felt him chuckle and his arms tightened around me, "I hope you liked that… I didn't want to go any farther – In case you weren't as sobered up as myself."

"Oh… You're sober?" I said playfully, smiling and yawning tiredly.

He laughed quietly and patted my back lightly, "Now, now…" He lifted my chin and kissed my cheek, "Ready to get some sleep? We can use Adrian's guest room."

I nodded, not caring if Dimitri checked on me or not, now was my time with Aleksander and nothing was getting in the way of that. He stood up slowly and I looked at him, unsure if I'd be able to stand up with my legs feeling like jelly. He smirked and gave me my shirt; I put it on without buttoning it and slid on my panties still sitting down. I lifted my arms towards my, wiggling my fingers at him. He laughed and picked me up by my arms and carried me to the guest room.

We lied down together under the covers and as he kissed my forehead I closed my eyes and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

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**I know this chapter wasn't the longest but I hope you all enjoyed it! It was getting pretty lemon-y eh? :P I couldn't have Rose and Aleksander having sex while they were both drunk. That'd be double rape! :3 At least in the state of Texasss! Woop woop. Too bad VA isn't based in Texas. Dimitri sooo would've fit in with his sexy cowboy duster ;) **

**Anywhoooo, thanks for reading my loyal readers! I hope you enjoyed this (again) – Oh, and I also updated my blog – where I put the music video/song that subconsciously inspired this fanfiction! It's the cutest video and song. The name also rocks! ;) Check it check it? Remember, link is on my profile. **

**One more thing, REVIEWS MAKE ME WRITE FASTER! How about we hit 135? I think soooo! Thanks so much everyone.**

**ERICA**


	9. Chapter 9

**You guys rock – I wasn't planning on posting again so soon but with my right foot having pulled/strained tendons, I am now on bed rest (aside from walking to classes, which SUCKS!) – And I felt like writing. This is an EXTRA long chapter and it was pretty much my favorite chapter to write so far! :) **

**I hope you like! – ENJOY!

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I woke up to a loud bang and saw Dimitri Belikov, standing at the doorway and looking at my half-naked body with Aleksander's arms around it. My head was pounding and I was tired, my mind didn't comprehend what was going on; or how I should be freaking out because my Guardian, who put me under "house arrest" just caught me in bed with a boy in Adrian Ivashkov's house, drunk, and half-naked._ What a princess, Rose. _I pulled the blanket over my head and groaned.

"Dimitri, get out!" I said with my groan, thinking that would get him to leave. Yeah, right – it's Dimitri we're talking about here.

"Rose Hathaway!" Dimitri screamed, making the room echo and making my head pound even harder.

I stuck out my middle finger and closed my eyes to go back to sleep.

"I order you to get out of this bed _right now,_" he commanded.

I pushed the covers down to my chest and glared at him, "Excuse me? I'm the royal here, I command YOU to do things." My subconscious kicked me in the head; I guess being hung over and tired made me really stupid. I looked at him, now realizing what I had said and what would happen to me.

His hands clenched and unclenched and he glared at me with these eyes filled with disappointment, anger, and another emotion that I couldn't put my finger on, "I am going to wait in the living room and you will be out there in five minutes, ready to go back to your room so we can go back to St. Vladimir's, and on the way, we will talk about your _punishment._"

I nodded quickly and looked over at Aleksander, who was surprisingly still sleeping, and sat up, quickly covering my boobs with a pillow before Dimitri walked out. "Adrian Ivashkov!" I screamed and although it hurt screaming, it worked.

The Queen's favorite nephew was in the room in a second, "What the hell Adrian? Why would you let him in here?"

"You think I let him?" he chuckled. "Your Guardian is one scary son of a bitch."

I growled at him and couldn't help but baring my fangs, which, of course, made Adrian smirk – because he's Adrian.

"Hmmm, you should learn how to moan quieter, gave me a straight up hard-on last night, reminded me of our times together," he said as he leaned against the door, grinning like the damn maniac he is.

"Adrian!" I said and threw my pillow at him, which of course showed him my boobs, which made him bare his fangs.

"Damn, I forgot how good those are."

I rolled my eyes and shakily buttoned up my shirt, "Can you please go get the rest of my clothes from the living room? Please?"

He nodded and smirked, turning around before he walked into the hallway, "If you give me one more flash of those awesome melons!"

I gasped and behind my back formed a small fire ball, throwing it at him and burning a small hole through his shirt. He yelped and raised his hands in surrender, walking over to the living room. That'll teach him, damn Spirit user.

A minute later he walked back and threw my bra and leggings at me, setting my boots by the door and bowing dramatically before walking out. I glared at him and thought about setting his ass (literally) on fire, he knew how much I hated when people bowed. Especially when I knew they were doing it to piss me off. I hate how well he knows me.

I looked over at Aleksander and stared at him incredulously, how the _fuck _was he still asleep! I sighed deeply and got up from the bed, taking off my shirt and sliding on my bra, then putting my shirt back on, along with my leggings and walking over to the doorway, pulling on my boots. I looked in the bathroom mirror and saw I had a case of massive sex hair. I tied it up in a messy bun and washed my face clean, giving Adrian the finger as I passed by his room and walked into the living room.

I stuck my arms out and pressed my wrists together, like I was about to handcuffed, looking at Dimitri with a bored face – I know, I was being stupid and immature, I can't help it! I'm a stubborn, immature little princess (no pun intended.)

"I wish I could handcuff you," he said moodily, and I couldn't help but glare. Then my head was filled with naughty thoughts – _I wish you could handcuff me too – _My perverted self-conscious said and I told it to shut the hell up.

I walked out the door first and slowly walked back to my room, shivering a little at the night/morning temperature. It always seemed to drop, even though it was just September. My Moroi genes kept me from freezing but I still felt cold. Dimitri saw and didn't offer me his coat, like Aleksander would have, although I was pretty glad since Dimitri's opinion of a suitable coat was a cowboy duster. Maybe they had a Little Russia in Texas? I chuckled at that thought and put on a straight face when Dimitri looked at me oddly, I just shrugged and kept walking, I couldn't help the smile on my face.

When we got to my room I nodded at him awkwardly and walked into my room, only to find Christian, in just boxers, in my bed, _what the hell?_ I kicked him in his side with the toe of my boot and he jolted awake.

"Christian Ozera, what the hell are you doing in my bed?" I asked with my arms crossed against my chest.

"Uh… Lissa and I had some fun last night and we were afraid Alberta and Dimitri were going to check on her so she made me sleep over here," he slurred and I rolled my eyes.

"I will castrate you if you even think about puking anywhere near my suit case," I said with a pointed finger at him and he nodded, then flopped down and passed out.

I sighed and opened the conjoining door to Lissa's room, finding her butt naked on her bed, curled up in a ball.

"Vasilisa Dragomir!" I yelled, my hang over was better now that I had some fresh air, so I'm pretty sure i was only hurting her head.

She grabbed her head and screamed a little, "Rose! Leave me alone!"

"Your boyfriend is sleeping in my bed! _You_ leave _me _alone! I don't want his dirty ass in my bed after you two did the nasty!"

"I made him put his boxers on…" she said slowly and innocently, looking up at me with a smile.

I rolled my eyes and couldn't help but smile, "You freaking bitch." I mouthed and grabbed her robe, throwing it to her. "Put something on, go get your boyfriend, and take him to your bed, I'm tired as fuck."

She nodded slowly and five minutes later she finally got Christian to get up and go to her room, I glared at her playfully, then winked to reassure her I wasn't really mad, and once she smiled I closed and locked the conjoining door, taking off the top cover on my bed and laying in it, boots and all. It wasn't long before I passed out.

* * *

_Adrian's hands were caressing my body and I let out a moan – I wasn't sure why I was going along with this but I was – and as his mouth kissed me all over I whimpered his name and clung to him. _

_Soon enough he was inside of me, all of him – and that wasn't a small amount – and I cried out and thrusted when he did and gasped and panted. I squirmed beneath him and bit my bottom lip, going crazy with arousal and lust. _

_We kissed and massaged each others tongues like mad people, our body's sweaty with arousal as they slid against each other in the throes of passion. _

_Once my sleepy mind comprehended what was going on I ripped my lips from his and gasped, glaring at him, "Adrian! What… What the hell?" _

_He smirked, "Hello Little Princess!"_

"_Am I… Are we… Are we in a freaking Spirit dream?"_

"_Well you couldn't believe that after seeing these," he pointed to my boobs. "I wouldn't want you like a mad man."_

_I rolled my eyes and pushed him off of me, "Put me in clothes, now!"_

_He sighed deeply, magically having wonderful clothes on him, then in the next second I had on a lace thong and bra. I glared. _

_He smiled like he was so cunning, "You didn't say what type of clothes, Princess."_

"_Should I tell you what weapon I am going to murder you with?" I asked and in the next second I was in my outfit from early, it was definitely more comfortable than that damn butt floss._

_Adrian and I had had a lot of Spirit dream sex after our short relationship; it was fun and felt kind of real. But it got boring and a bit weird after a few months, and when I started dating Mason I made him stop – even after he repeatedly stated that it wasn't really cheating. _

"_I just wanted to have some fun!"_

"_This could totally be counted as rape, Ivashkov."_

_He laughed out loud and rolled his eyes, sitting against the headboard of his bed that I just noticed we were on, he'd put us in his room back at St. Vlad's. "Oh calm down my little fire ball."_

"_New nickname?" I asked with my eyebrows raised, he smiled and nodded. I sighed and rested on my stomach._

_As a Spirit user, he was able to conjure a dream with anyone and put us in any setting he pictured, along with what each of us were wearing and our 'situation' – as you can see. I loved Adrian like the pest he was, but damn was he __**really **__a pest sometimes._

"_So… Can I go back to a peaceful, dreamless sleep now?" I asked nicely, which was really hard._

"_Aww, and leave me all alone?"_

_I smirked, "I bet you anything there is a girl in your bed."_

_He looked around like he didn't know what I was talking about and shrugged, "Only you."_

"_I meant in the real world, Ivashkov, don't be a smart ass."_

"_Oh, but that's what you love about me, isn't it?" he asked with a smile and I shook my head, grinning at him. _

"_Perhaps, but seriously, I'm in deep shit with Dimitri, can I please go back to a peaceful sleep?"_

_He sighed dramatically and nodded, leaning down and kissing my lips gently, biting my bottom one as he pulled away, smirking, "Goodnight my little fire ball."_

_I saluted him, trying not to jump his bones after that same kiss that got me all the time last year, "Later Ivashkov."

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_

I woke up a few hours later and took a shower, packing up my stuff as slow as I could in a towel as Dimitri impatiently waited outside my door. I was one second away from setting him on fire when he knocked on my door for the one millionth time in the past hour.

"What Dimitri?" I screamed as I slammed open the door and was surprised to see Aleksander at my door. "Aleksander!"

He hugged me and kissed me all over my face, I laughed and kissed his cheek, "I'm so sorry, Adrian told me everything that happened this morning – I can't believe I slept through all of it."

I laughed and shrugged, "I handled myself."

He nodded, "I saw, especially by that hole that you burned in Adrian's shirt, nice work Princess."

I smirked and shrugged, "Thank you, thank you." I looked around outside of my room and saw Dimitri was nowhere to be found. "Where's Belikov?"

Aleksander smiled brightly, "I set the tree across the street on fire, should keep them busy for a while."

I shook my head and kissed him deeply, laughing against his lips and shutting the door as he picked me up. Our kiss soon turned into a make out session as he pressed me against the wall, I whimpered quietly as his hand snaked up my thigh under my towel and put a hand there to stop him. He looked at me questioningly and I just shook my head with a small smile, I was glad he understood and he kissed me softly, taking my top lip in between his before he pulled away.

My arms and legs were still wrapped around him, it made me feel a little crazy (in a good way) being so close to him while just in a towel. We kissed one more time, just before Dimitri knocked on my door. I sighed and motioned Aleksander towards the open window in my bathroom. He nodded, kissed my head and ran to it, climbing out of it quickly before I opened the door, holding my towel closed as Dimitri looked at me.

"You have ten minutes to be ready; I'd suggest that you hurry."

I rolled my eyes and nodded, "Sure sure." I said and turned around, shutting the door on his face and changing into the clothes I had set out on my bed. I slid on some black PINK sweat pants with PINK on the butt in pink and white metallic lettering and a white St. Vladimir's hoodie, and then I slid on my tan Ugg boots and tied my long brown hair in a messy bun. With some mascara I was ready to go and I opened the door, gesturing to my bags and suitcases as I stepped out and met up with Lissa. If Dimitri was going to be an asshole, I was going to be a bitch.

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**So, what do you think? I had so much fun writing this chapter – I hope you all had as much fun reading! This will be my last post for a few days to a week; I hope this chapter can satisfy you all for at least a few days ;) **

**I think it's my longest… Hmm, longest chapter = MOST reviews? I think sooo! Let's aim for 155 Reviews! The faster I get them the faster I will post again! :3 **

**Love you all!**

**ERICA**


	10. Chapter 10

**So… I'm back and feeling totally crappy for taking **_**forever**_**. I have been going through so much! Papers, mid-term exams, family problems, relationship problems, health problems—The list goes on and on! But hey, no one likes a pity party. Writing this made me feel a bit better and when I start getting reviews I'm pretty sure my mood will just be lifted up! So thanks for sticking with this story and me! You guys rock!

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I sat down in the large, over-sized leather seat in our private jet and stretched my legs to the seat across from me. I put my hood up and my ear buds in, getting comfy and ready to sleep when I saw a very tall and large figure in my peripheral vision. Dimitri.

"Princess Hathaway, we have to talk."

I sighed, "Told you not to call me princess."

He shrugged and walked in front of me, knocking my legs off of the seat as he sat on the seat beside it. I glared at him and linked my fingers together, "I don't know what you want me to say. I'm seventeen; I just wanted to have some fun."

"Fun? Drinking underage and sleeping with someone is dangerous, you can make huge mistakes," he stated and sat forward, his elbows on his knees.

I rolled my eyes, "Belikov, seriously? I'm not an idiot. Protection is key, no glove no love, blah blah blah. Besides, Aleksander and I didn't do anything to that extreme – not that it's your business."

"I'm supposed to keep you safe and with you always getting into trouble and sneaking out without me knowing, it's getting really hard to do."

"I can't be restrained Dimitri! That's all that I ask for, is to not lock me up or keep me from doing shit," I said and sat up straight, crossing my legs. "If someone tells me to do something I have to do it – it's who I am."

"Well that's going to be a problem for both of us, because I've decided to put you under strict house arrest."

"What!" I said and jumped up, looking down at him.

"Rose, sit down, we're about to take off."

"No! Screw this!" I stomped my foot just as the tires began rolling, making me fall on, of course, Dimitri.

I gasped and he did too, my body crushed against his, not being able to move as the plane kept elevating. We looked at each other intensely and my heart started beating a million miles an hour until finally we straightened out and I jumped off of him, liking the way his body felt against mine way too much.

I sat in my seat and shakily buckled my seat, looking everywhere but at him. I fidgeted with my hands before finally realizing my iPod was still playing and blaring on the seat beside me. I grabbed it and slid the ear buds back into my ears and sighed, putting my hood on again and closing my eyes – Dimitri and I would finish our conversation later, there was no way I was going to confront him after that.

* * *

I woke up from my nap, seeing Dimitri asleep too – I guess he thought there wasn't really a big threat inside a plane. I leaned over the empty seat and looked out the window, I could see the mountains and green, glad that we were declining. I sat back and kept my ear buds in, looking over at Dimitri and biting my bottom lip.

What was it with him…? He was so infuriating and such a douche bag, but dear Lord was he sexy. With his long brown hair and scruffy face that I found somewhat attractive on only him and his stupid cowboy duster that he somehow pulled off. My heart started to race as I thought about how it had felt being pressed against him and I bit my bottom lip. Just a few seconds later I realized what I was thinking and kicked myself in the ass, _what the hell Rose, it's fucking Dimitri we're talking about here! _I rolled my eyes, sighed very loudly and threw my head back. Which of course woke Dimitri up, he looked at me oddly and I closed my eyes, frustrated with myself and my body for being so attracted to Dimitri.

Fortunately, we were getting lower and lower to the ground and I took a deep breath as I felt the wheels pop out and hit the concrete. My hands unclenched the seat's arms and I exhaled quietly, nodding at Dimitri as I started to walk out of the plane.

Lissa and I got into the limo and Alberta and Dimitri got into a black Honda SUV and drove behind us, I was not looking forward to my 'punishment' that Dimitri and I didn't get to talk about.

I knew the time was getting closer and closer so I ignored my thoughts and chatted with Lissa about everything, except I didn't give her any details about my night with Aleksander, I felt like that would've freaked her out beyond mention—all she needed to know was that we did stuff more than make out and nothing else. Unfortunately, after finding her half-naked boyfriend in my bed I now knew what _they did_. That made me grin, but once I saw the gates of St. Vlad's it completely disappeared from my face. I grabbed my suitcases and bags and walked up to my room, getting a text from Mason that everyone missed Lissa and I and they were planning to come up to my room as soon as I got settled in.

"I have to go check in with Headmistress Kirova and run some errands; we will talk about your punishment tonight," Dimitri said as he passed by me while I opened my door. I nodded didn't look at him – now that I got a lot of fresh air I realized how weird this all was.

I set my suitcases and bags on the bed and unzipped them, putting my random stuff back where they belonged and threw my dirty laundry from the weekend in the laundry basket. Lissa and everyone else were planning to come up to my room in a few minutes and I needed as much free space as I could get.

Ten minutes later, as if on cue, Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Jill, Mason, and Mia walked in. my eyes felt like they were going to pop out when I saw that the last two people to come in were holding hands. Mason and Mia! Since when did this freaking happen?

Mason must've seen my face and he chuckled, "Shocking?"

I nodded and smiled a little, surprisingly, I wasn't jealous, "Very, did this happen while we were gone?"

Mia nodded with the brightest smile I'd ever seen her have, "He asked me to be his girlfriend Friday night!"

"That's soooooooooo cute!" I heard my best friend say, I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Yeah, what she said."

Mason smirked and he nodded, "I know cute isn't in your vocabulary."

I shrugged, "I don't have many words in my vocabulary any way."

That made everyone laugh, which made everyone get into a better mood, which started our little party. Aleksander was staying until tomorrow morning—he wanted to finish all his mother's arrangements and he had a dinner tonight with Queen Tatiana. At least that's what his text read when I got off the plane.

They talked about how the first mass was, which Lissa and I strategically planned to miss by booking our flight during that time, and how boring Headmistress Kirova's speech was. Eddie had brought a movie, which I'm pretty sure was some type of bloody/gore-filled movie, and put it in my DVD player. Everyone settled into whatever they could, my bed, the floor, the couch, some random chairs—I didn't mind though, I liked having the gang here. Aleksander was missing though… He kind of was a part of the gang now, and my life. I closed my eyes tight as I thought of Aleksander kissing me, then he changed to Dimitri, and my heart beat went a lot faster. What was with me?

Lissa placed her hand on mine and she asked if I was okay. I nodded and heard a knock at the door. "Pizza! Someone wanna get that?"

Jill got up and opened the door, it was the pizza guy so she paid and closed the door. The pizza was gone in less than a minute, everyone with at least two slices on their plates. When the movie was over, everyone's stomachs were full and their minds were on blood and guts—good thing we were all vampire or vampire-related, or it would've be really hard to eat while watching.

It was getting lighter and later and Dimitri still hadn't come by, but of course once everyone left he knocked on my door and opened it before I got the chance to even get off my bed.

"You should really lock your door, Rose," he said and closed it.

"I really don't think a locked door will stop a Strigoi from getting into my room, Belikov," I said, laying back on my bed, my head propped up.

Dimitri sat on the couch across from my bed, the same one I woke up to the first time I saw him—déjà vu much?

"So my punishment… What's the verdict Belikov?"

"You will be under house arrest, _strict_ house arrest where you go straight from here to training with me, to class, to training with your fellow Fire users, to dinner, and back here," he said, crossing his fingers together.

"Seriously?" I sat up. "It's my senior year!"

"Rose, you snuck out to go drink, illegally!" he said sternly and leaned forward. "I will take you off of house arrest when I believe that you have learned your lesson."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, which means no freedom for the rest of the school year."

"This conversation is over," he said and stood up quickly. "I will see you tomorrow morning for training."

I nodded and saluted him mockingly, he sighed deeply as if he was tired of me and it ripped every inch of playfulness from my face for some reason.

I looked down as he closed my door and fidgeted with my hands. _He's your mentor, Rose. Not some guy in your class. Now Aleksander… He'd be good for you. He already __**adores**__ you! _I sighed and laid back, closing my eyes and seeing Dimitri's face over and over again. No matter how bad he infuriated me, there was something about him that attracted me to him more than anyone I'd ever been attracted to. I was so screwed.

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**Once again, thank you thank you thank you everyyyyy one! You all are amazing, I know this might not be my best chapter but I struggled to write this with everything that's going on. If I get 10-15 reviews I will post another chapter ASAP. It's Spring Break and I'm back home! So I have a feeling I will definitely want to write some more. **

**Review review review! Love you guys.**

**ERICA**


	11. Chapter 11

**So… I'm pretty horrible eh? This last part of the semester really killed me! I was busy nonstop and unfortunately, school came before this story. I regret not writing more because I most likely lost MANY readers. But I'm back for the summer, and I hope you all will still enjoy this story. I love you all, along with Vampire Academy, so enjoy!**

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The next morning I woke up to loud banging on my door, I knew it was Dimitri so I just turned on my light to show him that I was awake and got dressed in charcoal gray St. Vladimir's sweat pants, a white v-neck tee, and some Nike tennis shoes. I opened the door and saw Dimitri, I tried my hardest to keep my content smile off my face and began walking to the track in the morning fog and cool air, I had stubbornly decided to not wear my sweater, so throughout the regular three mile morning warm-up, I fought through the cold and pushed myself harder.

"Good job, this was your quickest time to date," Dimitri said as he drank from his water bottle.

I nodded, taking a swig from mine, acting like my lungs weren't on fire, "What else, Belikov?"

"Well, now we're going to climb some steps," he pointed to the bleachers and my breath hitched.

"Sounds great!" I said breathlessly and jogged to the bottom of the steps, looking up at the bleachers which seemed way worse than Strigoi at the moment.

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My legs wanted to give out throughout the entire school day, the mornings work out had absolutely killed my legs and I was hoping that my training with the Fire users wouldn't be including any cardio—if it did, I just might die.

I opened the door to the large gym and was instantly welcomed with the smell of burned paper and plastic. I saw Christian talking to a woman whose back was to me. As she turned around I realized it was Tasha Ozera. I smiled and waved a little, walking towards them and taking a deep breath.

"Hi Rose, you look quite tired," she said with a small chuckle.

"Well, training with Dimitri does that to you!"

"I bet," she said with a laugh, which was quite pleasant to hear. "I promise to not tire you out as much."

"You're my trainer?"

She nodded with a smile, "At least while I'm here, which may be for a while."

"Awesome!" And I think I actually meant it, I had someone I knew as my trainer, and Christian's aunt really was fun to be around. I tried to push the thought that she and Dimitri were pretty close out of my head, and succeeded—hopefully for good.

It turns out that Fire users could really do a lot of things when it comes to fighting Strigoi, after you stake them, the best thing to do is burn the bodies. So, the burning plastic was the dummies of supposed Strigoi, and the burning wood was the classic wooden stakes that we lit on fire, just to see how that would work. We also had training silver stakes, that were harder to set on fire, but we tried. By the time we were done it was dinner time, and I had learned more than I thought I could, this training was going to be a blast.

Christian smirked at me smiling face and I glared at him, wiping his smirk off, "That's right, Ozera."

"Sorry, I just knew you were going to love this training."

I shrugged it off and walked to the dining hall with him, spotting Dimitri coming towards us from the left. Why did he always have to come in at my happiest moments? I couldn't be happy liking someone I couldn't have.

I nodded at him as he began walking behind us, and once we got to the dining hall he sat at the guardians table, which was, thankfully, a few tables away.

Aleksander showed up as I bit into my chicken sandwich, I waved at him and he leaned down, kissing my cheek and sitting beside me. I swallowed and looked at him, biting my bottom lip at how handsome he is. Why couldn't I just think about him, Dimitri always found a way into my mind. So I leaned into Aleksander and kissed him, full on, in front of everyone. At first, he was still and shocked, but then he responded. I pulled away and Lissa was grinning from ear to ear, and I chuckled and whispered into Aleksander's ear, "Sorry…"

He shook his head, "If you, Princess Hathaway, want to kiss me, you can do it anytime, anywhere."

I smiled and bit my bottom lip again, starting to eat and talk to everyone again. In the middle of my conversation I felt Aleksander's hand slide onto my thigh, getting higher and higher. I silently clamped my legs together, trying to keep his hand still. I laughed shakily at something Lissa said and looked at Aleksander with a serious face, but his smile made me smile and I bumped his shoulder with mine. He removed his hand with a smirk, I looked around to make sure that no one had seen our little flirtatious moment, which was a very sexual flirtatious moment if I may add, and I was instantly met with the eyes of Dimitri, which were dark and scary. He was angry, beyond angry, and I didn't know what to think.

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**So... I'm pretty stinking horrible. Lol, once again I am sooo unbelievably sorry! I had such a busy last few months in my first year of college and I am going to be putting many more chapters up after this, I can tell you that! **

**BTW, I forgot to mention that I met the one and only Richelle Mead on March 1 in Dallas, TX! I know, be jealous! Lol, she signed my books and I got a 2 minute conversation out of it. She is the cutest pregnant woman and the sweetest author! I was so nervous I kept blabbering, but ah well! :p **

**Just wanted to share that amazing moment of my life! If only Rose, Dimitri, and Lissa were real so that I could meet them too! ;) **

**Hope you enjoyed! Many more chapters coming, and soon! **

**Thanks for sticking with me, and please continue to also! **

**ERICA**


	12. Chapter 12

**So, here's another chapter. Hope you guys enjoy! It's so great to be back!**

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The days following were pretty awkward between me and Dimitri. I didn't know what to do when I was around him in those few moments of silence, it became so awkward that I took my iPod to the track and paid no attention to him, which made me run faster. Those were the only times that anything remotely positive passed between me and Dimitri. It had been three weeks since that day and I walked out of my room with black track pants, a gray sports bra, my Nikes, and a white hoodie over my sports bra on. It was a dark, foggy morning and seeing Dimitri with that grim face made it that much darker.

"So, I think you've had enough running, now we move on to in-door training," he said with a slight smile.

I stared up at him and slowly opened my mouth, "Seriously?"

"I think you've earned it, your times are getting faster and faster on the track. But the deal is that we will be switching, one day we will do in-door training and the next we will be running and so forth."

I nodded quickly and practically skipped on our way to the gym. When we walked in I saw four dummies, two straw and two plastic, and four silver stakes. I had worked with trying to set them on fire but had never staked a dummy, this was going to be fun.

"Okay, sit down on the floor and we will go through some rules."

I sat on the floor. Hell, I would do anything to get to this training that I'd been waiting to do for weeks. I had been excelling in my training with Tasha, and I was beyond grateful, but this was something I _needed _to learn, because our powers can always weaken if used too much. I saw him put down a backpack I hadn't noticed him holding before, and he stood up straight, making me feel like an ant so low on the ground.

"What do you know about silver stakes?"

"Silver's always been dangerous to magical creatures and has had super powerful effects. When used with enough force, driving it into the heart of a Strigoi will kill it. Silver stakes are even more dangerous and hardcore because it takes four different Moroi to make one, because they have to be made with the four different elements, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water."

"Will it hurt Dhampirs or Moroi more?"

"Moroi, if we get scratched with one it'll hurt pretty bad, but it won't be as bad as it'd be with a Strigoi, and no, it doesn't hurt Dhampirs, unless you drive it into their hearts, but that's with anyone. They also don't hurt humans."

As we continued to talk the heater turned on, so I contemplated for a few minutes as to whether or not I should take off my hoodie and then decided "why not!" So in the middle of Dimitri's sentence I slid off my hoodie and threw it on the mat beside me, I looked up when I realized that he stopped talking and saw him staring at me. I chuckled and said his name to snap him out of whatever he was thinking about, or looking at, and it worked.

"Oh, yeah, right," he looked at the dummy and then back at me. "Where is the heart?"

I looked at him with a weird look, "Seriously?"

"Yes, _seriously_," he mimicked me and I rolled my eyes, getting up quickly and pointing to the left side of its chest.

Dimitri shook his head and I sighed, "Yes it is, that's where people put their hands when they sing the national anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance." But he just stared, I thought back to one of my CPR classes I took years ago and pointed to the center of its chest but a little to the left. Dimitri nodded.

"And the ribs and the sternum are in the way," I said quickly and he nodded in approval. "So do I get a stake now?"

He chuckled, "You'll be lucky if you get to touch one today."

"I've touched one before; I want to learn how to stake a Strigoi, Dimitri."

"And Headmistress Kirova wants to be Miss America, we don't always get what we want," he said sarcastically.

I busted out laughing, thinking of Kirova in a pageant dress and then swimwear, laughing harder and falling on my butt on the matt. Dimitri joined in just a little and then got serious. Once I stopped laughing I looked up at him and shook my head, "Did Dimitri Belikov just make a joke?"

"A damn good one too apparently," he said with a smirk.

I let out a small laugh before getting up and holding my hand out, "Stake? Pleaseeee?"

"Oh you're not prepared though," he said and walked to a plastic dummy.

"I am!" I said, being a little immature.

"Fine, here, pierce the heart," he said as he handed me the stake.

I nodded and grabbed the stake, running to the dummy and stabbing it straight, the pointed end barely made it into the skin. What the hell? I tried it again with as much force as I could and nothing.

"Not that easy to do huh?" he asked and took the stake from me.

I glared at him and he spun, gracefully, and stabbed the dummy in a quick, graceful, and deadly strike. My eyes were open wide as he pulled the stake out quickly, fake blood coming out of the hole. I was guessing it was paint or just fake Halloween blood but it made a nice touch.

"How did you do that?"

"Years of practice, _Roza,_" he said with a smile, the way he said my name made me melt, just a little.

"Wait, you did it upwards?"

"You have to break through the ribs somehow right?"

I nodded and took the stake from his hand before asking and tried to stab the other plastic dummy, not succeeding, then tried one more time, and another, thinking about the Strigoi that killed my parents. I heard Dimitri saying my name but I ignored him and kept trying. I held the neck and on the sixth try I finally broke through and hit what I thought was the heart and when I felt wetness seep out into my arm and splatter a little against me, I knew I was right. I held the neck tighter and did it again and heard Dimitri call my name louder, but my eyes were blurry and my arm was killing me and I just kept stabbing it over and over, more fake blood splattering on me. When I felt large arms around my waist pulling me away I slumped and realized that the reason why my eyes were blurry was because I was crying. No, I was sobbing.

The last thing I remember is Dimitri sitting me down, his arms still around me tightly, saying my name the way I love, trying to calm me down, but then I looked up to the dummy, covered and dripping blood, and then I heard my mother scream my name exactly like it had happened years ago, when I was a little girl, and everything went black.

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**Once again, I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting! But here is another chapter, which I loved writing! Lots of Dimitri and Rose time! :) Hope y'all enjoyed and please review! I will be posting again soon if I get some more reviews. I thought you all decided two chapters instead of one! Maybe I'll post a third one if I like it enough! :P ENJOY!**

**ERICA**


	13. Chapter 13

**Here's another one! **

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When I woke up I saw Dimitri to my left, I was in an uncomfortable bed that made an annoying sound when I moved around, like thin paper. I knew I was in the academy's clinic and I sighed at the bright lights.

"Can someone turn off the damn lights?" I mumbled at Dimitri and I think I saw a small smile. He had a book in his hand; it was a Louis L'Amour book, which made me laugh softly, which in turn made my head pound.

"You're up, good," the doctor said and walked out to go get something.

I looked down at my arm, seeing a bandage wrapped around with a red spot on it.

"You cut your arm with the stake while practicing," Dimitri said when he finally spoke up.

"No wonder it hurt so much..." I said with a grimace.

He dog-eared his book and put it onto the bed side table; I reached over with my good arm and picked it up.

"Westerns, huh? Who knew?" I said with a small smirk.

"You worried me for a minute there, princess_._"

"Dimitri, worried? Did I break through that shell of no emotions?"

"Ha ha," he said sarcastically and I just smiled, until he grabbed my hand.

I looked down, hesitantly, and felt my entire body get warm with just that touch.

"I know you're very strong, but that… that was something else, _Roza_, what happened?"

"I'm fine," I sat up shakily, why did he have to ask me that? It was a moment of weakness, I told myself. Horrible memories from my childhood… Now I knew that no matter what, I was going to finish my training and now I knew that this wasn't a punishment. My parents would be _proud_. I actually wanted to thank Kirova. I was going to kill those bastards that took my parents from me.

"Lay down, you need to rest more."

"I. Am. Fine." I said and stood up on shaky legs beside him, and then my butt hit the paper covered bed when he pushed me down. "What the _fuck_, Dimitri?"

"Rose, keep your voice down."

"I _don't _take orders from someone who just pushed me!"

He grabbed my shoulders and looked at me, "Do you want to continue this training?"

I gasped at the intensity of his gaze and just nodded, "Yes…"

"Good... Now I will let this go _for now_, alright?"

"Alright." I said quickly, his grip on my shoulders weakened, but his gaze didn't. I could smell him; the scent of his aftershave was so intoxicating, so masculine and clean.

I realized I was staring into his eyes, making things just a little awkward. I pulled away when the curtain of my small room was pulled to reveal Aleksander. He looked from me and Dimitri, then back at me, walking quickly towards me and hugging me close.

"You're okay…" he said into my hair. "When you didn't show up to any classes I got worried, although I don't doubt you would've skipped." He smiled at me and I couldn't help smiling back a little.

I chuckled and shrugged, "Beat myself up a little in training earlier, I'm fine." Although my arm was totally not fine, it was burning and so was my throat. I needed blood, ASAP.

"Wanna join me with the feeders? It's about dinner time."

"Seriously?" I looked at the clock and realized it was. "Fu—"

"Rose." Dimitri said, cutting me off before I could cuss. He really didn't like when I did. I laughed softly and he looked up at Aleksander, "Rose must stay here until the doctor comes back, but when he does, I will take her to get fed properly."

He spoke with a hint of jealousy and it was shocking, but I bit my lip and lay back down, covering my eyes with my good arm. Truth be told, I felt so much better being with Dimitri than I did with Aleksander, which was the worst realization ever.

"Oh, alright," I heard Aleksander say, disappointed. "I'll see you later, Rose." I felt his lips on my cheek and I couldn't help but smile at how sweet he was. Once he walked out, the smile disappeared. I was falling harder and harder for Dimitri, I opened my left eye to see him reading a book again, stealing a glance at me every other page. His hair was falling into his eyes and I wondered how he could read. I chuckled and straightened my face when Dimitri looked at me, I could see he was fighting a smirk.

The doctor came in after a few more minutes and gave me some serious drugs for the pain, I was actually giggling and feeling pretty good.

"I'm so thirsty…" I said, sounding like a drunk.

Dimitri put an arm around my side hesitantly and held me as I walked, I didn't realize I had been on the verge of falling down. "Yes, Rose."

I showed him my fangs and he looked uncomfortable, I just laughed and hid my face with my good arm's hand.

"We need to get you to a feeder, fast," he picked me up and carried me to the feeders' building. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder, trying to memorize every second I could of his arms around me.


	14. Chapter 14

Once I was fed and full, the medicine's effect wasn't as strong as before, and I could feel my face flush in embarrassment at how I had acted with Dimitri. I walked beside him slowly towards my room, the sun was raising high in the sky and I was exhausted.

"I will send someone to go get your prescription so you will have it when you wake up," he said as he opened the door to my room for me.

I saluted him before closing my door and flopped down onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling. What the hell am I going to do…? I'm falling for my Guardian, my trainer, a teacher practically.

A few weeks passed and Halloween was in 3 days, Lissa couldn't stop talking about the big Halloween party the school would be having and I couldn't stop rolling my eyes about it. She always became overly excited about things like this when I just knew that they'd be lame and over-chaperoned.

"Can we please go look at costumes? I'm sure my parents could get Kirova to get us passes to go out into town, please please please!"

"If it gives us the chance to get out of St. Vlad's then fuck yes."

She squealed and clapped her hands, "Thank you thank you thank you!" she said before she hugged me tight.

"Yeah yeah, let's call your parents and get those passes."

It turns out Kirova is the Dragomir's bitch, she agreed without any objections and soon we were off with Dimitri between me and Lissa in the car and another guardian whose name I couldn't remember in the passenger seat and Alberta driving. I chuckled at Dimitri sitting in the smallest seat in the back of the Escalade; it was also the highest seat, making his head hit the ceiling with every small bump. Lissa was grinning and I tried to hold in my laughter, but completely lost it when we hit a big bump turning into the mall.

Dimitri glared at me but I could tell that he was fighting a smile himself, so I just took a deep breath and stared straight ahead, smiling and playing with my hands. Before we got off the Escalade I put my hair into a messy bun and climbed out. I straightened my black and white striped dress shirt and navy blue cardigan and walked around the car to link arms with Lissa, our knee high riding boots clicking against the wet pavement in sync. It was kind of weird how close of friends Lissa and I are. She's the goody good princess that every heiress/princess should model after and I'm the princess that no one wants to have rule anyone. I'm hot tempered and she's calm and collected. She practically has platinum blonde hair and I have dark brown almost black hair, yet I would die for her—and she would die for me.

Before we headed into the costume store, we got some Starbucks; St. Vlad's should definitely have one of these on campus. Lissa headed straight towards the sexy outfits when we walked into the shop, of course. I sighed and looked around with her, but then a costume caught my eye. It was a sexy sailor costume. I couldn't stop staring at it and when I looked at Lissa and rose my eyebrows her eyes went wide and she started squealing.

"Yes, yes, yes! You have to try it on!"

"No! I was... I was joking!"

She smiled wide, "Liar! Go!"

She shoved the costume into my hand and I groaned and walked into the dressing room. I looked at myself in the mirror with my bra and panties and realized my body was way more toned after weeks of training with Dimitri; I could totally be counted as sexy.

I slid on the navy blue dress that was unbelievably short and looked at the mirror, damn, it fit like a glove and I looked sexy. It pushed up my boobs so I had some cleave, but there was a nautical striped piece of fabric covering up the worst of my cleavage. Pairs of gold buttons went down the bodice and were met with an actual rope type of belt, which had a gold anchor hanging from it, then a mini navy blue skirt that had gold lining below it. It barely covered my butt and I smiled, I looked unbelievably sexy. I took off my riding boots and slid on the white stockings, lined with lace that went up to mid thigh, leaving a few inches of skin showing (yes, my skirt was that short.) I called Lissa's name and walked out sexily, trying hard not to laugh and then spinning around, stopping dead in my tracks when I realized it wasn't Lissa standing there, but Dimitri.

His face was flushed with red and his eyes looked different, darker than I've ever seen them.

"Sorry, Dimitri…" I said, uncertain if I should be sorry or not.

He just shook his head and clenched his teeth. Thankfully, Lissa walked into the hall of the dressing room and whistled.

"Damn girl, you are so getting that!"

I laughed and shook my head, "No way."

"You look so sexy! Seriously, Aleksander is gonna want to…"she looked over at an uncomfortable Dimitri. "Uhm... I mean… It's perfect for the costume party."

I nodded and shrugged, biting my bottom lip and looking from her to Dimitri, "I will get it."

She squealed and I rolled my eyes, once again, "You're such a squealer, Liss."

She laughed and hugged me, then went into my dressing room and changed into her costume, she was going to be a sexy gangster girl. I laughed my butt off when she put on her costume. She looked sexy, but she was the opposite of gangster. When I told her she chuckled as she slipped on her fedora.

"Well, a sexy, cute sailor girl is the opposite of you, you're feisty and sexy, not cute and sexy."

I threw my stockings at her as I changed and put on my clothes, thinking of how Dimitri was looking at me—it made my knees shake.

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**If I get more reviews I will post the next one! Maybe there'll be some Aleksander and Rose action? Or Dimitri and Rose action? ;) Who knows! :p**

**Photos of Rose's and Lissa's costumes are on my profile, go check 'em out! **

**Thanks for all the support!**

**eisforerica**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey everyone! Happy Saturday! I got an idea from Olivia Williams, a reader, who asked if I could do a chapter with Dimitri's POV, which I loved! So here it is, it's also my longest chapter to date!**

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Meeting Rose Hathaway had been the worst and best thing to happen in my life I had come to realize throughout the weeks I spent training her and getting to know her better. People talked about how the Hathaway line would be disappointed to have only her as an heiress, but if anything, they were lucky. Sure, she was crazy and erratic, but it's what made people, and her, great.

When I finally allowed her to go inside to train with actual dummies and a stake, I knew I was taking a risk but I thought she could handle it. She did, just not in the way I thought she would.

Seeing the fake blood on her made me a little on edge, but when I realized that some of the blood on her wasn't fake, that's when I panicked—which is what Guardians never do. I realized that she had scratched herself, which won't kill her like it would a Strigoi, but it would still injure her. So I screamed her name and when she didn't stop, ran over to her and wrapped my arms around her body to get her under control. After I got a hold of her she passed out, and I took a deep breath to calm myself down and then took her to the academy's clinic.

Seeing her laying on the clinic's bed, barely breathing, it was such a weird feeling. A feeling I hadn't felt in a very long time, since Russia. I had a beaten up book, by Louis L'Amour, in my hands, I was halfway through it for the tenth time, but it wasn't keeping my focus off of her. I kept staring up at her every few seconds and I would stay still until something snapped me out of it. I didn't realize I was holding my breath until the doctor came in.

"She will be just fine," he said before he began to take out some supplies from the bed side table and began cleaning her cuts, they were just scrapes but the skin surrounding them were bright red and looked very infected. "Once I wrap these cuts up and give her some antibiotics, I will give her some medicine for the pain if they hurt when she wakes up, which should be soon."

I nodded and my heart rate quickened when I saw her move around and then open her eyes and close them. "Can someone turn off the damn lights?" I heard her mumble and couldn't help but smile.

"You're up, good," the doctor said as he went to go get her pain medicine, we both noticed the uncomfortable look on her face. She looked down at her arm in pain and confusion.

"You cut your arm with the stake while practicing," Dimitri said when he finally spoke up.

"No wonder it hurt so much…" she said, that uncomfortable look becoming worse.

I was worrying even more, thinking about how much it actually could hurt, and dog-eared my book and set it on the bedside table.

Rose picked it up, smirking, "Westerns, huh? Who knew?"

That smirk made me feel a little better, "You worried me for a minute there, princess."

"Dimitri, worried? Did I break through that shell of no emotions?" she said playfully.

_More than you know,_ I thought. "Ha ha," I replied sarcastically and as she smiled, I did something I didn't mean to—I grabbed her hand and held it.

"I know you're very strong, but that… that was something else, _Roza,_ what happened?"

I saw her face change and I knew that I had either pissed her off or upset her.

"I'm fine," she said and sat up shakily.

"Lay down, you need to rest more," I said, she didn't look like she had any strength to be standing up—at all.

"I. Am. Fine." She said and I could see she wasn't stable enough, physically and perhaps even emotionally, she looked like she was about to fall over. I knew she was in too much pain to stand for very long, so I pushed her down onto the bed before she fell on the floor. "What the _fuck_, Dimitri?"

"Rose, keep your voice down."

"I _don't _take orders from someone who just pushed me!"

"I stood up and grabbed her shoulders, looking intensely into her eye, "Do you want to continue this training?" I said forcefully, surprised that I could even speak with how intense my gaze was, she was so beautiful.

She gasped, "Yes…"

"Good… Now I will let this go _for now, _alright?"

"Alright," she said and I sighed, loosening my grip on her shoulders.

She was staring into my eyes just as intensely and I gazed down at her lips, I had never wanted to kiss anyone as much as I wanted to kiss her. This was so unbelievably wrong, she pulled away and I was scared that I had actually done something, but I pulled away more when I realized that Aleksander Voda had just walked in. He hugged her and said some rubbish that I didn't hear because my mind was screaming as he touched her so effortlessly and without worry.

I looked up and saw them talking about going to the feeders, when Rose realized what time it was she was about to cuss, but I interrupted her. "Rose," I said and she laughed softly before I looked up at Aleksander, "Rose must stay here until the doctor comes back, but when he does, I will take her to get fed properly."

I tried to keep the jealousy out of my voice but I don't think I did the best job that I could, he sounded disappointed as he said goodbye. I grabbed my book and tried to ignore him as he kissed her cheek, beginning to read where I left off, leaning over more than before, making my hair fall into my eyes. I didn't mind, I had read this book so many times. I heard her chuckle and looked up at her, trying not to smirk before going back to my book. Minutes later the doctor came in to give Rose her pain medication and within minutes Rose was giggling like a drunk person, I held her side as we walked to the feeders.

"I'm so thirsty…" she slurred.

"Yes, Rose," I said, holding her closer, loving feeling her close to me. I looked down at her and she showed her fangs at me, it made me uncomfortable, not because I didn't like her fangs but because they made her so much more sexy and beautiful. She laughed and hid her face. "We need to get you to a feeder, fast," I said and picked her up, carrying her to the feeders' building. Having her so close to me was one of the best feelings.

After she was fed she looked better and seemed more sober and not in pain as much. She was embarrassed, I could tell, but I just kept quiet. She looked exhausted, so I opened her door, "I will send someone to go get your prescription so you will have it when you wake up." She saluted me and closed her door, needing sleep as much as I did. A Guardian whose name I didn't know came to take my place and I went to my own room, laying in bed and looking up at the ceiling, wanting Rose to be beside me that night, every night.

* * *

Weeks passed and training with Rose was just starting up again, she was doing wonderful. Every day she surprised me and I was falling more and more for her, the princess I was sworn to protect and train, a student. What was wrong with me?

My thoughts were interrupted as I got a call, Headmistress Kirova's name popping up on my cell phone screen.

"Dimitri Belikov, Vasilisa Dragomir and Rose Hathaway have a pass to go to the shopping mall in the city, you and Alberta will be with them," she said and hung up.

That was Kirova for you.

An hour later I was escorting Rose and Vasilisa to the Escalade, along with Alberta and a new Guardian at St. Vladimir's named Cherkesov. Alberta chose to drive and Cherkesov was in the passenger seat, making me the one to go in the backseat, on the smallest seat, making my head hit the ceiling with every small bump. Lissa was grinning and Rose was on the verge of laughing when we hit a big bump turning into the mall and my head hit the ceiling, hard. Rose began laughing harder than I'd ever heard her laugh and Lissa was laughing almost as much. I glared at Rose and she tried to stop laughing, but seeing her so happy made me smile. She took a deep breath as we parked and put her hair up, she looked beautiful. She stepped out and I looked at her, she was wearing a black and white dress with a navy blue sweater thing and brown boots that went up to her knees, making her look gorgeous.

Rose and Lissa linked arms and followed Cherkesov into the mall with Alberta beside them and me behind them. Rose wanted Starbucks, so we stopped and she got a white chocolate mocha, which I liked but I just got a regular coffee. Once we were done at Starbucks we walked to the costume shop. It was a wide open space so it'd be easy to watch them, I saw them both head to the sexy outfits and immediately had to look away. Cherkesov and I began talking about where he had trained and came from, turns out we trained at the same place in Siberia, and after about ten minutes I began to get curious as to where the girls were. I asked Alberta and she said dressing room, I decided to make sure and walked in to the hallway of the dressing rooms, just as Rose walked out, looking more sexy than I've ever seen any woman look.

She was wearing a sailor outfit, a skin tight, short, navy blue dress that made her look like a porn star. My mouth watered at her entire outfit, from her knee high stockings to her cleavage. She looked at me, expecting someone else I guessed, and I felt my face get hot. She was gorgeous, I think my eyes got darker too. I glared at her, wanting to push her against the dressing room wall and ravish her. These thoughts were thoughts I'd never thought I'd think about a student, but Rose was different. She was a woman, she was so much more mature than anyone knew. She was beautiful.

"Sorry, Dimitri…" she said uncertainly.

I shook my head, my teeth clenched harder than ever, I was about to speak but Lissa walked in and whistled.

"Damn girl, you are so getting that!"

Rose shook her head, laughing, "No way."

"You look so sexy!" Lissa said. That was an understatement. "Seriously, Aleksander is gonna want to…" she looked over at me and I wanted to punch Aleksander, right then and there.

I turned around and walked out of the dressing room, not wanting to hear anymore Aleksander talk and to calm myself down, physically and emotionally.

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**I hope you all loved it as much as I loved writing it! Dimitri is by far an amazing character, who I loved writing for. The question is though: Should I do another chapter in his POV? **

**Tell me your thoughts! And I want at least 10-15 reviews for the next chapter! Some good stuff is coming up!**

**Love you guys! :)**

**ERICA**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you guys so much for being wonderfully amazing! **

**Dimitri's POV seemed to be a good idea, so thanks again Olivia Williams for the idea. **

**I know we all want Dimitri and Rose to be together already, but how long did it take Richelle Mead to get them together? And how much did we love it when they finally did? It's all a brilliant plan—Gotta love her! Did I mention I met her? Yeah, it was a glorious moment :p **

**Anyway, back to the story!**

****WARNING: The majority of this chapter is rated M—if you don't want to read any lemony goodness, please skip over until you see the first line! I don't want any complaints, so please, if you don't like to read anything of the naughty sorts, just skip over the part of the chapter before the first line or the chapter altogether (please don't, the end is kind of important, lol). Thanks!**

* * *

Once we got back to St. Vlad's, it was a bit late, but Dimitri had thankfully taken me off of house arrest, which had included no visitors at my own house, so I called Aleksander. I couldn't forget about the way Dimitri had looked at me… I couldn't stop thinking about him, and I needed to get my mind off of Dimitri. I know it's horrible—to use someone to get your mind off of someone else, but what else was I supposed to do?

Aleksander was there in a few minutes, I opened my door and was glad Cherkesov was the replacement Guardian, he didn't care. I pulled him in seductively and laughed, he chuckled and looked me over, placing kisses on my neck, then tilted his head.

"Why do you have a robe on?"

"Maybe I bought something today… something for the costume party… that I want to show you?"

He groaned and smirked, untying the tie on my robe, "Show me!"

I laughed and pushed him on the bed, slipped off my robe and revealed my sailor costume, stockings and all, and slipped on the sailor hat that came with it. "Do you like…?

He bit his bottom lip, revealing his fangs—even I couldn't deny that he was sexy. He pulled me to him and kissed me hard, I laid him back and he unzipped my costume, sliding it off. My bra and panties were see through lace, which made him growl. He unhooked my bra and took my nipple into his mouth, I straddled him and moaned softly.

"Mm… Aleksander…" I whispered into his ear, turning him on from the bulge I felt against my thigh.

I rubbed against his growing bulge, closing my eyes and involuntarily picturing Dimitri, I gasped and as my eyes shot open, I lifted Aleksander's head, kissing him harder than ever, like the harder I kissed him the faster Dimitri would be out of my mind. He flipped us over so I was the one on my back, he kissed me hard, his tongue exploring my mouth like the expert kisser he was, both of our breathing was turning into panting. I felt him begin to slide down my panties and then I heard the zipper of his pants. I stopped him, my logical mind overpowering my aroused mind for a few seconds.

"Aleksander… mmh… condom?"

He nodded and pulled one out of his back pocket shakily, I kissed him hard and heard him rip open the package, then I heard the aluminum package hit the wall as he through it and looked down to see his manhood, I moaned at the size, not exactly remembering if he was bigger or smaller than Adrian.

Aleksander kissed me harder, kissing down to my neck and biting, sucking, doing everything I loved, and then I felt his fingers beginning to massage my clit, I moaned louder and bit his shoulder as he kissed and sucked on my neck harder. After a lot of teasing in just a few minutes, I felt him slide into me unexpectedly, I cried out and realized that he wasn't bigger than Adrian, but I hadn't gotten any in so long, it was just a sensation I hadn't felt in a while. At least it gave him an ego boost.

As he began to slide in and out, I cried out and met his hips, kissing him hard, sucking on his bottom lip, hearing his groans and the sound of our skin slapping together. I arched my back higher, leaning my head back and closing my eyes as he pounded me. With my eyes closed, all I could picture was Dimitri, whispering my name Roza as he made love to me; I opened my eyes and looked at Aleksander, seeing Dimitri's face for a second, and then seeing Aleksander's face, looking down at me with so much passion. I almost lost all of the arousal I was feeling, I am a horrible person. But then Aleksander kissed me, hard, and began hitting that spot deep in me that sent me over the edge, which made him go over the edge, and as we climaxed together I bit down on his shoulder to keep from yelling his name, or someone else's.

* * *

After we got completely naked and comfortable in my bed under the covers, Aleksander kissed me softly and tenderly, looking into my eyes with a gaze that made me both uncomfortable and a bit happy. He really was a great guy; I just don't think he was the right guy for me.

"Thank you, Rose…"

"Why are you thanking me? You did all the work," I joked.

He chuckled and kissed both my cheeks, "For being the amazing girl I've come to know."

I smiled and kissed his forehead, "No prob."

He wrapped his arms around me and we spooned until we fell asleep.

And that night, I dreamed. I dreamed it was Dimitri making love to me, whispering _Roza_ as he slid in and out of me, and when we both climaxed, he whispered _I love you, Roza._ And I said it back.

I shot up in bed after the dream was over, panting quietly and looking beside me to see Aleksander, sleeping soundlessly. Dusk light shone through the blinds and curtains of my large window. I looked at the clock and it read 7:30PM—great. I stood up and put on the spa-like robe I had worn earlier, folding my costume and putting it and the accessories in the bag before hopping into the shower, hoping to get rid of the problem I had between my legs after having that very real-like dream I had of Dimitri.

As I was massaging shampoo into my hair I heard the shower curtain open and looked back to see a mighty fine, naked, Aleksander coming into the shower. He smirked and kissed me hard.

"Just thought you might need some company," he said and I laughed.

"How generous of you, Aleksander," I said and kissed him back softly, rubbing some shampoo into his hair.

We had even more fun washing each others bodies, doing everything _but_ sex. I was either extremely attracted to Aleksander or extremely horny because of Dimitri—I think it was a mixture of both.

As we washed our bodies a second time (dirty right?), there was a loud knock on the door. I didn't think anything of it, but when it persisted for a straight minute, I sighed loud, kissed Aleksander and got into my robe, twisting the water out of my hair into the sink and, walking over to the door.

"What?" I said, thinking it was Cherkesov, not expecting Dimitri.

"Rose, I took Cherkesov's place early—your neighbor complained to me that your TV was much too loud last night, and that it wasn't _regular _TV you were watching…" he said hesitantly.

When I realized that my neighbor thought that I was watching porn loudly last night, I started cracking up. "I wasn't watching porn, Dimitri." Seeing him this early with the dusk light behind him was driving me just a little crazy—what was going on with my libido lately?

"Then what—" he started to say but was interrupted by Aleksander.

I looked back and saw him peeking his head and upper body out of my bathroom door, dripping wet with steam coming out of the doorway. "Where are your towels, babe?"

Dimitri looked from me to Aleksander, seeing both of our hair dripping wet, then he scanned my bedroom and saw clothes thrown everywhere, including boxers and a pair of panties and a bra. As he took all of this in I saw multiple emotions in his eyes, anger, disappointment, and maybe some jealousy… or was that sadness?

I started to speak and he held his hand up, looking like he was struggling to keep control, "I have some errands to run, I will call a replacement Guardian for you." And that was the last thing he said before turning and walking the opposite way. I shut the door, leaned my back against it and stared at the opposite wall. What had just happened?

"I found the towels!" Aleksander said cheerfully—well.. at least one of us was happy.

* * *

**I had a bunch of fun writing this, how heartbreaking were Dimitri's eyes? Haha, I love you guys! Once again! And thanks for sticking with me. **

**Should the next chapter be in Dimitri's POV? Give me your thoughts! ;) **

**Ten reviews would be great guys! Reviews make me write faster! :p**

**ERICA**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey everyone! Sorry it took me a few days! I've had this written up for a while but my laptop is being repaired atm.**

**I'm sorry it's so short! I planned to have Rose's POV at the end of this chapter but I just don't have the energy to type it up on my phone. So this is all I have!**

* * *

Having that night off was very much needed—after seeing Rose like that and hearing Lissa talk about Aleksander like that, I was on an emotional rollercoaster. Rose was beautiful and I knew I was falling in love with her, a student, a 17, going on 18 year old. I was 24. This could never be okay.

I sighed and flopped down onto my bed, hearing my phone ring as I finally became relaxed, if it was Kirova I was going to be unbelievably angry. To my surprise, it was Tasha.

"Tasha Ozera, I haven't heard from you in a while," I said, smiling. She was an old friend, I liked her.

"Dimitri Belikov, how wonderful it is to hear your voice, I've been thinking about you lately…"

"Oh? And why is that?"

"I would like you to be my Guardian, Queen Tatiana has finally agreed to allow me to get a Guardian," she said.

I hated that the Ozeras didn't get the same treatment as other royals, but I was happy the Queen was allowing her to get a guardian—although her request shocked me. When a woman Moroi asks a Dhampir man to be her Guardian it is often, almost 95% of the time, arranged for them to have children.

I didn't know what to say, I was shocked. "Oh… That's such a great opportunity Tasha, thank you for asking me."

"We've known each other for so long—you were the first Guardian I thought of."

"Thank you, will you give me time to think about it?"

"Of course, don't take too much time though!" she said playfully and hung up.

I stared up at the ceiling, surprised at her unexpected question. I did enjoy her company, that was no doubt, but I wasn't sure if I could do that. Have children with her. Because I was falling for another Moroi, someone so off limits it probably crossed no one's mind.

I was up the majority of the night thinking about Tasha's question and of course _Roza_. But when I woke up, I realized that I really didn't want to be without Rose—I would decline Tasha's request later that day.

I said hello to Cherkesov and we switched places, once he walked away, a Moroi girl peeked her head out of her room. She was a senior, like Rose, and looked tired.

"Could you please tell Hathaway to stop watching rated-X movies or TV so loud at night?"

I looked at her, shocked and confused, "Are you sure it was her?"

"Who else could it be?" she asked with attitude and shut the door loud.

I knocked on Rose's door and when she didn't answer I kept knocking, a minute later she opened the door in her white robe, hair dripping, screaming, "What?"

She looked gorgeous, no matter what, but I heard the shower still running, which I thought was odd. "Rose, I took Cherkesov's place early—your neighbor complained to me tht your TV was much too loud last night, and that it wasn't _regular_ TV you were watching…" I said hesitantly, how awkward was this? I couldn't believe she was watching pornographic movies.

She began laughing, she couldn't believe it either. "I wasn't watching porn, Dimitri."

"Then what—" I started to say, about to ask her what she was watching, when Aleksander Voda peeked his head out of the bathroom, hair dripping and steam coming out of the doorway.

"Where are your towels, babe?" he asked, not seeing me there.

I looked at both of them and saw that they were both wet from the shower, then a glace around the room proved to me that they had most likely had sex last night, explaining the "sexual" noises her neighbor heard coming out of her room. I couldn't breathe and everything became blurry, she began to speak but I held my hand up and said something I can't even remember. I walked away before I could do or say anything else.

I had fallen in love with a student—a student who was 7 years my senior and who had a full life ahead of her, a princess, last in her line. Why would she ever want to end up with a Dhampir? She could have any Moroi that she wanted. I walked straight to Tasha's room and when she opened the door I said yes. I swore my life to her in one word, a spare of the moment thing, and I wasn't sure what I had just done.

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**So thanks so much! I have the next few chapters planned out and I'm extremely excited :)) This is becoming so fun again!**

**Plus your reviews are just amazing! I love you guys!**

**ERICA **


	18. Chapter 18

**So my laptop is fixed! Yaaay! I am super busy with college and work but I've been writing in a journal on and off for the past week, so enjoy!**

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The rest of the day was odd. I had slept with Aleksander and I couldn't believe it, plus I was 99.9% sure that I didn't love him. I liked the guy, but what did that say about me? That I was a whore? I guess so, but could you blame a 17-year-old girl who was in love with a 24-year-old man who was, undoubtedly, Mr. Dreamy. Dimitri was such a huge part of my heart and mind while Aleksander just felt lie a visitor.

Speaking of Dimitri, Cherkseov had been with me all day, not Dimitri. He had said he had stuff to do… but what if he was just upset about me sleeping with Aleksander? He wouldn't have a reason to be upset anyway, right? Unless he felt the same way about me, which was just ridiculous.

I sighed as I walked to dinner with Lissa, we were gonna meet Christian, Mase, and the rest of our group at the dining hall. I wish my mind would shut the hell up about Dimitri and Aleksander. I was getting really tired of thinking about them. Aleksander wanted me while Dimitri was completely off-limits, even if he felt the same—what else could I do?

As we walked in I saw Aleksander sitting with Christian and Mason, I got queezy just seeing Aleksander look so happy to see me. I had slept with him to get rid of the thought of Dimitri but iti didn't work at all, just made it worse. Once we sat down we began eating the pizza the guys had ordered.

"Where's Dimitri?" Lissa finally asked me, noticing Cherkesov watching with Alberta.

"I don't know," I answered honestly.

"Oh, you didn't hear Rose?" Christian asked and I glared at him.

"Hear what?"

"Dimitri went to the court."

"Why would he do that?"

"Tasha asked him to be her Guardian," he said and picked at his fries as if nothing was wrong.

While I felt like someone had just punched me in the gut. "But he's my Guardian," I said, trying not to sound petty.

"Well Queen Tatiana said she could have any Guardian, and she's always had a think for Dimitri, I think he might feel the same," he said carelessly.

I felt my heart drop, them laughing together at the Court weeks ago, it all made sense. He was in love with Tasha Ozera, and I was here like a fangirl, in love with him. "So he said yes?"

"Obviously. Him and Tasha went to the Court an hour or two ago."

I nodded slowly and then I heard my best friend say, "I'm happy for Tasha, she deserves a good man," she said and wrapped her arms around Christian's waist.

I felt like I was going to puke. Or suffocate. Or both.

* * *

The plane ride to the Court was peaceful, but Tasha kept looking at me oddly. I felt like pacing, Rose's face wasn't leaving my mind and it was keeping me on edge.

I felt like Rose should be coming around the corner to fall onto my lap again. She must have found out about my plans by now. I still couldn't believe I had said yes to Tasha. But it was the best decision, right? Things with Rose could never be possible to go any further. I loved her but she would never love someone like me.

At dinner, Tasha received a call saying that Queen Tatiana wouldn't be available until dinner tomorrow. We got two rooms, to Tasha's disappointment, and as I lay down that night, I thought of Rose with the Voda kid, and my fists clenched. Rose would be happier with someone her age, and so would I.

_I had my arms wrapped around Rose's small but strong body, she was smiling and I was laughing as I twirled her in the Autumn leaves. She was beautiful and happy, I was happier than I'd ever been._

_And as we linked our fingers together, we kissed, and the kiss just became deeper and deeper. I was completely in love and my heart was soaring in my chest. _

"_I love you, Roza…" I whispered in her ear and she nodded._

"_I love you, Dimka…" she said and lifted her face, raising her hand and placing it on my cheek, kissing me hard. _

_As I looked at her raised hand, I saw a sparkling diamond ring, we were engaged. I smiled and she smiled even more. _

_It was a wonderful feeling, and I never wanted it to end. But—_

And as I awoke with a start in the middle of the night, I realized that I had never been happier than when I was with Rose. Her laugh, her smell, her beauty… she was the most wonderful woman in the world. And I felt that perhaps I had actually made a mistake.

"_Roza…_" I whispered, and fell back asleep.

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**Sorry it's so short! It seemed longer in my journal, haha! Another chapter will come up as soon as I get at least 10 reviews, I know y'all can do it!**

**Action and fun and Halloween stuff is coming up! It's going to be greaaaat! :3 **

**ERICA**


	19. Chapter 19

**So, thanks for the reviews! Yaaaay, getting so close to 300! Enjoy!**

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After a rocky dinner, Lissa and I decided to have a sleepover. When I woke up I her arm was strewn over me heavily, I chuckled and pushed her hard enough to make her almost fall over. She jumped up and glared at me, all I could do was smile.

I looked outside and saw that it was dusk. Then I saw Cherkesov, looking around and not being Dimitri.

"Halloween dance tonight!" Lissa said with a squeal.

I rolled my eyes, not being able to keep myself from smiling, "Yes, yes it is."

And the day was off to both of us planning, pampering, and getting ready. We painted each other's nails and did our make-up, then our hair—my hair in tight curls and Lissa's in a 40s style bob type of thing with curls under her fedora. By the time we were done it was mid-day (night) and it was just 2 hours from the party. It'd be earlier than most, during dinner time, but we'd be drunk by then.

I put on my costume, slid on my stockings, and then my Mary Jane's and then my sailor cap. When I was done I heard talking, I looked around and saw that Lissa was in the bathroom. I went to the door and looked in the peep hole, listening in on a conversation between Cherkesov, Alberta, and three other school Guardians. Two men and a woman: short guy, tall guy, and a woman shorter than Alberta.

"Wards can't be broken by Strigoi, Alberta," the woman said.

"Well who would? Or could?"

"Humans," Cherkesov said.

They all looked at each other with worried looks, which was a rare sight. The Academy's wards were broken by humans? What the hell?

"Humans working with Strigoi? That's ridiculous!" Alberta said and began pacing.

"Not with. For," Cherkesov said.

"The Academy's wards have never been broken," short guy said.

"What do we do now?" tall guy asked everyone and they all just looked dumbfounded.

"We don't let anyone out," Cherkesov said, as if it was obvious. "Or in."

"And we hope that what we lack in numbers we gain back in strength," Alberta said and began calling someone, probably back-up.

"Cherkesov, we have the trained Moroi students, we could use them, they would all be a help—especially the Fire users," other woman said.

"They can't be put in danger like that," he replied.

"They're in danger just being here!"

"No one said we were getting attacked!" the tall guy said.

"Well why else would Strigoi break the wards?" Alberta asked, glaring at them.

Cherkesov began to speak again but Lissa walked out and asked how she looked.

"Great." I said and sighed silently.

* * *

As we walked into Queen Tatiana's home on the Court's property, we were ushered into her huge dining room, where bowls of soups were laid out.

"Dimitri Belikov?" she said as I sat down. "This is your choice?"

"Yes, is he not satisfactory?" Tasha asked as she took a sip of her wine.

"Well of course he is, Tasha," she said, turning her nose up. "He's one of the best."

I didn't know if I was supposed to smile, so I just sipped the wine also.

"But he is Rose Hathaway's Guardian."

My heart rate sped up as she mentioned Rose.

"Yes but I was under the impression that when you said any Guardian I'd be able to choose," Tasha replied, getting angry. "Dimitri and I have known each other for years; I thought he'd be a great choice. The Hathaway Princess will be in close for almost a year more, you'd be able to find her a new one."

"He's assigned to Rose, by me personally." Queen Tatiana said. "I can't allow you to have him as your Guardian, Rose Hathaway is last in her line, so she needs one of the _best_ Guardians that is offered, Dimitri Belikov is one of the best. He needs to be with her."

Was this a sign or was God just messing with me? I looked to and from Queen Tatiana and Tasha, Tasha's teeth and fists were clenched while Queen Tatiana just sipped her soup, acting like she hadn't completely changed Tasha's life plans. And I was glad.

* * *

By the time we were both done putting the finishing touches on our costumes, Aleksander and Christian knocked on my door. They both looked adorable, Aleksander in a sailor, Navy man costume and Christian a mob gangster. Lissa and I looked at each other and started laughing.

The guys glared at us and walked in, closed the door, and pulled out two flasks.

"Really?" I asked, we always had liquor.

"It's not enough to get us all drunk, it's just to relax ourselves!"

"Uh huh..." I said and sat on my bed with Aleksander.

An hour later, we were all feeling extremely relaxed, and Aleksander kissed my cheek, "I forgot some stuff, I'll meet you at the dance."

I looked at him oddly and nodded, kissing his cheek back. "Kay…"

He walked out and Lissa stood up, "I'm gonna go brush my teeth before we go!"

Once she was in the restroom I sat on the floor beside Christian, "Christian, I heard the Guardians talking outside my door."

"Eavesdropping much?"

I glared at him and he shut up. "The wards around the school were broken, they think it was humans."

"What?" he said loudly, I covered his mouth. He took it off and talked lower, "How sure are they?"

"Like 99% sure," I said. "They think they're working for Strigoi, which means there's a big chance we're gonna be attacked tonight."

"Seriously…?" he said with a shocked look on his face.

"Yes, text everyone who trained with us, tell them to bring whatever they need for Fire and to be prepared. Keep it on the DL among us too, Lissa can't know."

"Deal," he said and began texting.

"What's going on?" Lissa said, seeing me looking at Christian as he texted people.

"Uh nothing, just trying to find some after parties," I said with a smile.

We both stood up and opened the door, heading to the Halloween dance with queasy stomachs. I wished Dimitri was here, he'd know what to do.

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**Hey y'alll! :) Crazy stuff eh? So excited for the upcoming chapters! How about we get me at least 10-15 reviews? I'm typing up the next chapter as I post this one, so it'll be ready whenever you all are! **

**Thanks for all the great reviews again! And thanks to MadameRozaBelikova and xXtheseventhcharmXx, you guys made my weekend! Haha! **

** And I'm going to try to start replying to everyone's amazing reviews again! To people who've been reading this since Day 1 know that I used to do it, but once I started getting rampaged (in the best way possible) with reviews I stopped. But I want to do it again, because you guys make me so happy!  
**

**ERICA**


	20. Chapter 20

**So you guys are awesome, I'm so excited for this and the next few chapters! I made this one a little bit longer!**

**I didn't know if I should put Dimitri's POV at the end and make this one longer or just put in the next chapter. You'll see what I decided to do! ;)**

* * *

The gym surprisingly nothing like a gym, it was actually kind of awesome. There were scary decorations all over the gym and everyone was in costumes. Aleksander showed up a few minutes after we got there, looking cute as ever.

I pulled him to the dance floor, beginning to dance and, yes, make out with him. It was major PDA but we were just having too much fun. After about half an hour of dancing, Christian tapped my shoulder. He pulled me under the bleachers in the gym and he had a serious face on.

"We were attacked," he said.

My heart stopped, "What?"

"Three Guardians dead, the Strigoi are building up, more and more are coming."

"Shit shit shit!" I said and started pacing.

"I need to call Tasha."

Hearing Tasha's name pissed me off, but it'd bring Dimitri. "Call her then."

He grabbed his phone and called her, she didn't answer. "I'll call Dimitri."

I took a deep breath and hit Dimitri's number in my phone and called him.

* * *

While we were waiting for dessert, my phone began ringing. I looked at the screen and saw that it was Rose. My heart rate sped up and I excused myself from the table, taking it in the small lobby-type of area beside the dining room.

"Dimitri! We've been attacked."

"What?" I said and began pacing. "Details. Now."

"Earlier I eavesdropped on Alberta and Cherkesov talking to other Guardians and humans broke the wards. They think they're working _for _Strigoi. Three Guardians dead, more Strigoi coming."

"Where are you?" I said and began walking towards the dining room.

"Dance. It's tonight remember?"

"Stay there," I said as it got static-y.

"I'm going to fight, Dimitri."

"No, _Roza_, don't."

"It's okay, I had a great teacher."

And even I couldn't help the smile on my face, even with this situation, and I knew that she had the same smile.

I walked into the dining room and told Queen Tatiana, Tasha and I, along with some of the best and strongest Guardians got on the Queen's fastest jets, and throughout the entire 35 minute ride, my leg could not stop shaking and my heart pounding with the thought of Rose being hurt.

That couldn't happen.

* * *

When I hung up the phone, Christian looked at me oddly.

"You love him. Dimitri, you love him," he said, looking at me as if he was finally reading me.

"Christian, shut up. Or I will kill you."

He chuckled and shook his head, "Unbelievable."

"You tell Lissa and I will hurt you."

"She doesn't know?" he asked, disbelieving.

We began walking out from under the bleachers and I glared. "It doesn't matter."

He shook his head and we got Lissa, Aleksander was nowhere to be seen. "Lissa, something's going on, and we have to hide you."

"Wait what? No, what's going on."

"Christian will explain it to you further, but I have to go get some stuff we need," I said as we put her in a random custodial closet that I had picked the lock to a hundred times before.

"Rose, what's going on?" she asked, beginning to sound anxious and nervous.

"We're being attacked by Strigoi," I said and sighed, hugging her. "Christian and I have been trained for this, you haven't. You have to stay here. Promise me."

She looked terrified, but she just nodded. "I promise."

"We will be fine," I said and kissed her cheek as she began to cry.

"Take care of her, Christian, and Rose, take care of Christian."

"We got each others' backs Liss, don't worry." I hugged her again and ran to the other gym.

I picked the lock and entered, thanking that the alarm wasn't going off, and broke into the closet that I had seen Dimitri open. I grabbed a few stakes and a lighter that was lying on the floor, and then ran out to see Christian walking towards me. I handed him the stake and he looked at me with a huge smirk.

"I like the way you think, Hathaway."

"Thanks," I said and began running towards where the first attacked happened.

Seeing all the Strigoi was terrifying, it was like a flashback to what had happened with my parents. Their red eyes looked at me like I was the winning prize in all of this, and when two came towards me, one of them went up in flames from the small fire ball that Christian had shot and I staked the other one. It took me two tries but I finally got through the Strigoi's skin and finally staked him in the heart.

I looked at Christian and breathed hard, he smiled, "You're stronger than I thought."

I shrugged and couldn't help but smirk just a little—training with Dimitri had helped me immensely. But it was wiped off as an extremely angry-looking Strigoi woman ran towards me, she screamed as she jumped on top of me, making me fall, and as I used all my strength in my left arm to hold her away from me on her neck, I hastily lit my lighter with my right hand and with the little strength I had, just used my Fire to transfer the small flame from the lighter to her face. And with that tiny flame, her entire body went up in flames, and she jumped off of me and screamed. I staked her for good measure, and because she pissed me off, and stood up, panting.

The fighting went on for longer, more and more Strigoi came up to me, trying to kill, or capture, the Hathaway Princess. And I fought them with all of the strength, which was dying quickly, using a stake or my Fire—they both took so much energy from me. I saw a few students fighting, but most were Guardians. The students who were trying to fight were getting severely beaten, some were even dying, and my heart was slowly breaking, seeing this horrifying massacre.

And just as I was taking a much needed breath, a huge, unbelievably scary looking Strigoi man who looked about Dimitri's size came up to me and pushed me on the ground, I tried to fight back but my strength was gone, completely. He laughed evilly and showed his horrifying teeth, his red eyes shining with hunger and pride, and he lowered his head, and sunk his teeth into me.

I had never felt pain until I felt his bite, I screamed out louder than I ever have and started to cry as he began to drink, the pain blinding.

"_ROZA!" _I heard, I guess I was finally dying and I was hearing Dimitri's voice.

But all of a sudden the weight from the Strigoi was no longer there and the pain wasn't as blinding as before, although it was still horrible.

I heard the Strigoi man scream as he was staked and I laid my head back, staring up and seeing Dimitri. He looked at me with a sad look and lifted me up, placing a handkerchief on my bleeding neck.

"I'm in heaven aren't I…?" I asked as I touched his cheek.

He shook his head, tears in his eyes. "No _Roza_, you're still alive, you're here. With me."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

He smiled and leaned down, kissing my cheek, "You're going to be okay."

I nodded slowly, "I believe you." And as I said that my head tilted back, I was so tired. The sun was slowly appearing in the horizon, meaning that the Strigoi would be leaving now; they couldn't survive in the sun. I looked around and saw dead bodies of Strigoi, Dhampirs, and Moroi all together, across the courtyard and in front of the buildings and I began to cry again. The pain in my neck was horrible and seeing so many people dead was all too much.

Dimitri ran his fingers through my hair and he nodded, "I know _Roza_, I know." He said and leaned down, kissing both of my cheeks and my forehead.

I looked at him with tears flowing down my eyes and my hand on his cheek, my make-up for sure all over my face and his hand over my neck, "I love… I love…" I began to say but my eyes were slowly closing, and then everything went black.

* * *

**Thank you guys so much for everything, you guys are amazing!**

**I am having so much fun writing this.**

**At least 10 reviews for the next chapter, yes? It's already typed up! ;)**

**ERICA **


	21. Chapter 21

**So sorry I took so long! I've had a beyond busy week and weekend(s)! Here's another chapter! BTW, sorry about any grammar, spelling, whatever mistakes, lol. I did most of this on my phone!**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

When we landed at St. Vlad's I ran to the main courtyard. All I could think shout was Rose and whether she was okay or not.

The scene was horrific to say the least. A massacre was occurring before my eyes and I couldn't do anything but fight back.

A Strigoi woman ran towards me with a scream and I slid out my stake from beneath my duster and staked the woman effortlessly. More and more Strigoi came towards me and more and more fell on the ground.

I heard Rose's scream above everyone else's and as a Strigoi ran towards me I broke his to and staked him, continuing to run towards Rose. And as I turned a corner I saw a large Strigoi man on top of her and then saw him bite her.

"ROZA!" I screamed without thinking. I threw the Strigoi on the ground and staked him twice for good measure.

I kneeled down beside Rose and saw blood seeping from her neck. I placed a handkerchief on it and picked her up.

She looked up and she looked like she was in so much pain. My eyes were slowly filling with tears I didn't know I could produce.

"I'm in heaven aren't I…?" She asked and touched my cheek. I shook my head, the tears growing in my eyes.

"No Roza, you're still alive, you're here. With me..." I said, my voice cracking as tears began falling. "Isn't that the same thing?" She asked and I couldn't help but smiling through my tears. I leaned down and kissed her cheek, "You're going to be okay." I nodded slowly, "I believe you." And as I said that my head tilted back, I was so tired. The sun was slowly appearing in the horizon, meaning that the Strigoi would be leaving now; they couldn't survive in the sun. I looked around and saw dead bodies of Strigoi, Dhampirs, and Moroi all together, across the courtyard and in front of the buildings and I began to cry again. The pain in my neck was horrible and seeing so many people dead was all too much.

Dimitri ran his fingers through my hair and he nodded, "I know Roza, I know." I leaned down, not being able to resist kissing her cheeks and her forehead, I loved her so much I was coming to realize.

And as I walked with her in my arms I realized the ridiculousness of my situation, but when I heard her begin to speak I looked down. "I love… I love…" she began to say, but then her eyes closed.

I shook her slightly, holding her head so I don't hurt her. "Roza? Rose… Wake up…" I began to cry as I felt her stop breathing.

"Dimitri?" I heard someone say, a familiar voice. I looked up and saw Alberta. I knew I had tears flowing and she saw me too. "Princess Hathaway!" she said and yelled some names. Soon enough a few people came with a stretcher and placed her on it, taking her to the clinic. I just stared at her go with blank eyes.

"Oh Belikov…" Alberta said in a surprisingly non-condescending tone. I looked up and she shook her head, she looked tired but she looked knowing. "I never thought that you'd fall in love."

I stared at her with shocked eyes.

"I've known you for long enough to know when something is different about you, and since you've come here to be her Guardian, you've been really different, and now I know why."

"Please… I wasn't going to act on it."

"I think you already have," she said with a small smile and walked away.

I slowly walked to the school's hospital, still not believing that Alberta had found me out. She would never tell a soul, that I knew and was thankful for. But now I wasn't sure what to do.

When I walked into the hospital, it was chaos. More than 50 feeders were checking in and a few were already getting blood drawn.

It was too dangerous to let students drink from the source.

So many people were in the hospital I was sure they were over capacity. I looked across the room and saw Christian Ozera walking into a small room covered by a curtain. I went over and saw Rose through the crack in the curtain. I peeked into the room and Rose looked at me as she casually sipped a bag of blood.

Lissa looked at me, "Can you close the curtain Dimitri?"

I closed it, staring at Rose the entire time. Lissa placed her hand over Rose's horrible bite mark, a slight glow appeared beneath her hand and when she removed it the bite was no longer there, just a light pink skin.

"I healed Christian's broken arm, it took too much energy. You'll have that light pink skin for a few days, so be careful."

"Yes mother." Rose said with an eye roll.

Lissa smiled sadly and sighed as she sat on Christian's lap. Christian and Rose shared a look.

"Hey babe, let's go get Rose some actual food." He said and stood up, patting Rose on her shoulder and walking out. Lissa kissed her cheek and then walked out.

Did Christian know it too?

I walked over to Rose and held het hand, kneeling beside her bed.

"You scared the life out of me Roza."

"Thought it'd spice up your life," she said with a smirk and patted my hand."No worries comrade. My best friend is a Spirit user."

"Rose.."

"Just trying to lighten up the mood! " she said and rested back.

I sighed and shook my head, resting my forehead on the edge of her bed. A few seconds later I felt her run her hand through my hair and I looked up at her and stared into her eyes. She bit her bottom lip and it made her look so beautifully seductive.

I grabbed her hand and raised it to my mouth, kissing the back of it.

"Dimitri…" she whispered, sounding tired.

"Roza…" I whispered back and realized that her loving me back just may be possible. I kissed the back of her hand again and she smiled tiredly. "You were so stupid tonight to fight… but so very brave."

She chuckled quietly, "Wow, I was just insulted and complimented in less than 4 seconds."

I smiled, she could make me smile in the worst moments to smile. "Oh _Roza…_"

She tried to sit up and I quickly stood up and sat beside her, trying to push her back, "Hey, I'm bruised, don't touch the merchandise," she said lightly.

"Rose, lay back down."

"No, I want to sit up."

I sighed and raised my hands, "Fine." _Stubborn girl…_

"Don't you have your new woman to go protect? Go make babies or something?" she said with a petty tone. I almost laughed but I realized that the petty tone was more like a I'm-very-hurt tone.

I grabbed both of her hands, her face inches away from my face, "Rose… I'm your Guardian, not hers."

"What? But you can start a family with her…" she said, looking at me confused.

"I don't love her…" I said and internally took a deep breath before I said the next thing, looking into her eyes. "I love someone else."

She looked at me nervously, which was not a Rose look, and she bit her bottom lip in that sexy way that she didn't try to be. "Who…?"

And I leaned forward and she closed her eyes, all of my hesitations and all of my reasons for not acting on my emotions were completely gone from my head as I got closer to her puckered lips, and I kissed her.

It was like sparks flew. It was amazing. And as she opened her mouth to allow our kiss to become deeper I did the same and as our tongues touched she moaned softly, it drove me crazy. I pulled away and her eyes were still closed.

"Rose?" I heard someone say from the curtain. It was the Voda kid.

Rose still looked out of it but her eyes widened, "Aleksander!"

He ran forward and hugged her tightly. "You're okay!" he said with relief.

"Where were you? I thought you were dead…" she said and looked at me as they hugged.

I nodded and began to walk out, a pained look crossed her face and I smiled—as hard as it was—to reassure her that it was okay. As I walked out of the clinic I licked my lips and tasted hers. What had I just done…?

* * *

**Hope you guys loved it as much as I did. FINALLY some DxR fun ;) It's about to get even more fun. WINK WINK. Haha, just kidding, you'll see what I'm talking about! 10 Reviews and you'll get your new chapter! **

**ERICA  
**


	22. Chapter 22

**Sorry for the wait everyone, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do exactly. Still not sure if what I did was good, but I hope you guys enjoy! :)**

* * *

I touched my lips as I hugged Aleksander, not really believing that Dimitri and I had just seriously kissed. Seeing him walk out was heartbreaking. I had finally had him where I'd wanted him since I met him and Aleksander just had to walk in.

I pulled away and he looked extremely happy. Happier than was appropriate for the state the school was in.

"I'm so glad you're alright," he said and sat beside me.

"Where were you?" I asked him softly."I thought you'd be fighting with me."

"The school only has so many Fire users. I had to spread us out."

I nodded, "Oh... That's true... Well I'm glad you're okay Aleksander." Not that you're here in my room but on earth... I just couldn't get Dimitri off of my mind.

"Me too," he said and kissed my cheek."Get some sleep okay? It's like the brightest time of the day, you need to rest up."

I nodded and he pecked my lips, I felt nothing. I laid my head back and heard him whisper something that sounded like "I have a plan. I'll be back.."

I woke up when the sun was going down to Aleksander pulling the IV out of my hand and slipping on sweatpants and a hoodie. I was all for breaking out of my personal jail, the hospital, but not with him—I just wanted Dimitri.

"Aleksander… what are you doing?" I whispered.

He shushed me and slipped on my Ugg boots, "They have Mason, the Strigoi."

My heart dropped when he finished his sentence. I stared at him with wide eyes, "What?"

"They captured him, he might still be alive."

"Anyone else we know?" I said as I grabbed the stake that he brought me.

"Maybe, I'm not sure."

I nodded and put my hood on, walking out beside him. The night air was getting a lot colder; I thanked Aleksander quietly and walked close to him. "Wait, you know where they are? The Strigoi?"

"I overheard the Guardians talking about it."

"Maybe we should tell Dimitri… and the others."

"No, they won't let us go, you know that," he said and wrapped his arm around me as we walked towards the woods.

"Okay…" I said, an uneasy feeling coming over me.

"You're just nervous, it'll be okay, we're strong."

"I know," I said and gasped as I saw a trail of blood leading to a cave in the middle of the mountains in the ice/snow filled ground.

"They're here," he said excitedly, which weirded me out a little.

"Maybe this was a bad idea," I said uneasily.

"Rose, Mason's in there," he said and it brought me back to reality.

"Right, okay, let's go."

We half ran into the cave and what I saw was horrific. There was blood everywhere, more than twenty Strigoi, and maybe ten Moroi bodies that were slowly dying, Mason wasn't among them. I looked at Aleksander, confused.

"I'm sorry I had to bring you here like this Rose," he said, walking towards me. I walked backwards until I felt the cave wall against my back.

"What do you mean…?"

He walked closer towards me as a Strigoi came towards us. "Well, you see Rose…"

And as the Strigoi came closer, I saw that he looked like Aleksander, just older, paler, and more monstrous. I gasped, "The other Voda son…"

"When we moved to Russia, everyone thought that Sevastian had died at the age of 20, but no, he had just become a Strigoi… two years ago, my brother visited me and told me that he wanted me to join him," he said and began pacing. "I couldn't deny that request, our mother found out about him and sent Guardians to kill him, I warned him and he left the place she thought he was at. From then on we planned to kill her."

My breath caught, I couldn't believe it… I had believed him through everything…

"But I didn't want to spend eternity alone… And when I heard through the grapevine that Rose Hathaway had returned to St. Vlad's, I knew that I had to have you. So I came back and seduced you, it all worked out so well…" he said with a chuckle.

I glared, "How could you? You killed your own mother!"

"Oh I didn't kill her, Sevastian did," he said and laughed. His brother just glared, looking like he was about to smile. That would be one sinister smile. "But now it's time for us to be together baby…" he said and ran his finger down my chest. I tensed up. And then he leaned forward, and bit me where the Strigoi had bit me before, tearing the pink skin that was nowhere near healing, and I screamed. I screamed and screamed until my breath caught. It was the worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life, and as he kept drinking, I knew that I was going to die.

* * *

I paced back and forth inside my bedroom until I heard a knock. Alberta was at the door, I tensed up, scared that she'd bring up the Rose thing.

"We know where they're hiding."

I grabbed my stake and my duster, following her to the courtyard that was barely stained with blood. The clean up team did well.

"We need to go, now," Cherkesov said as he pointed to a map with a circle around the center of one of the mountains not even a mile from here.

"How many do you think are left?" I asked, shocked that we'd even find more than three Strigoi together.

"Twenty, maybe more," Alberta said.

I chuckled in disbelief, "Damn…" I said and ran my fingers through my hair.

"We'll assemble a team to go in two hours, everyone be ready."

We all nodded and I walked back towards my room, Alberta followed. "I'm making coffee in my room, come get some Dimka."

I nodded and followed her, afraid to say no.

Once we were in her room, she sat me down and poured a cup of coffee for me, "I have known you for many years, Dimka. Never have I seen you look at someone like you look at Princess Hathaway. She looks at you the same you know."

I looked down, I had never felt so ashamed. I was in love with a student, my Moroi that I was sworn to protect. And my life-long colleague knew it.

"But you are happy, finally happy. And that's why I will protect this secret with my life, as long as it brings no danger to the princess or you."

I looked at her, smiling slightly, Alberta was a wonderful person. "Thank you, Alberta. I owe you a lifetime of servitude."

She smiled, just a little, it was something she never did. "I'll hold you to it."

I left the room with the coffee and walked towards the clinic, planning to tell Rose that I was in love with her, and that I wanted to be with her. Forever.

When I walked into the clinic, there was still a bit of chaos but things had definitely calmed down compared to earlier. But chaos went off in my head when I pulled open the curtain to Rose's room and saw that her IV was on the floor and her hospital gown was on her bed, the sheets all messed up. She had left quickly, she was too smart to leave all of her things like this. Or she was forced.

"I saw her leave with that Voda boy," Tasha said, surprising me as she walked beside me. "He was practically pulling her out."

And as I turned around to report her missing, Cherkesov ran into the room and to me, almost breathless. "We found the wards."

"What? Where?" I asked and began to follow him out.

"We were doing room checks and didn't see Aleksander Voda in his room, so we searched for him in case he was hiding, and we found the wards in his room. There are also footprints leading towards the cave, two pairs of footprints."

My breath caught, "Rose Hathaway was seen being pulled by him."

"I think he took her to the cave, and I don't think it was to rescue the captured students," Cherkesov said. And my stomach dropped.

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**DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN! Hahaha, I hope you guys liked it. I'm not sure if I did.. Please tell me whether you did or not, and if you did, make me feel better and leave a review! :P **

**Can you guys get me at least 10-15 reviews? I actually know what I want to write so it'll be up soon. 8 more reviews and I'll have 300 :D excitinggg!**

**I love you guys so much!  
**

**ERICA**


	23. Chapter 23

**Okay y'all, second longest chapter of this FF. YAYY! Thanks for being so amazing! This might just be one of, if not my #1 favorite, favorite chapters! :) **

**ENJOY!**

* * *

When I ran into the cave, I saw blood—a lot of blood. I screamed Rose's name, which I realized was a mistake when 10 Strigoi came running towards us. Although they weren't too big of a match for us since we were 15 and they were 10. So four people followed me farther into the cave as the rest of the group fought off the Strigoi.

Once we were in the cave we split up, and when I turned I saw a body lying on the floor. It was rose. And there was a figure hovering over her. Just as I was about to stake the figure, he turned. It was Adrian, and he was crying.

"She's dead," he cried out.

I couldn't, or wouldn't believe what he just said, so all I replied with was: "How did you get here?"

"I was captured by Strigoi, did you not hear me? Rose is dead! She's dead!" he said and looked away. "I had escaped and was walking through the caves when I heard her scream. I came running and used a stake to kill that damn Strigoi, Sevastian Voda… and Aleksander was with him, he ran away, I got here before he could finish drinking from her."

"Drinking from her?"

"I don't know! Why are you so calm? Rose… Rose is gone…"

The world began spinning when he finished his sentence, "Adrian, you're a Spirit user."

"So what?"

"Bring her back, you know you can. We both do."

"I… I can't, Dimitri…" he said, looking down at Rose's lifeless body, I just kept my eyes on Adrian, forcing myself not to look down at Rose again. If I did, I knew I would break.

"Adrian. Bring her back, NOW. Don't let her die on us. Don't," I said as tears began to flow down my cheeks.

He sighed and took a deep breath, his tears finally stopping as he put his hands over her heart. He seemed to be focused so I cradled her head in my lap, "Don't die on me, I love you so much _Roza…_ please don't die on me…"

I looked up to see Adrian staring at me, "You love her too… Don't you?"

I glared at him, "Adrian. Bring her back."

He nodded and placed his hand on her heart and the other on her neck, concentrating hard. I held my breath for what felt like years, but was most likely about three minutes. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and I was about to attack them when I saw that it was Alberta, she gasped quietly, seeing what was happening take place in front of her. I didn't care that I was too close to Rose or that Adrian was using his Spirit to bring Rose back to life.

I thought he was going to be able to do it until he fell over, out of breath.

"It takes too much energy…" he said and covered his face with his hands, crying.

I began to cry as I began to give up hope, until I heard her gasp. I jumped and looked down at Rose's head in my hands, "Roza…?" I whispered.

Her eyes opened and she looked at me, "Belikov, how ya doin'?" she whispered with a light tone.

I shook my head and chuckled as tears of happiness flowed down my cheeks, I leaned down and kissed her forehead, whispering, "I thought I'd lost you…"

She shook her head weakly, whispering, "You can't get rid of me that easily."

I smiled a little and kissed her forehead over and over, not caring that Alberta and Adrian were looking.

"Adrian…?" Rose said and began looking around for him. He crawled over to her and hovered over her a little.

"Yes…?"

"You're exhausted… What happened?"

I looked from her to Adrian and he looked at me with an odd look. I wanted to ask what the consequences were for bringing someone back to life, but I knew it wasn't the time.

"You know what I'm feeling?"

"You're sad. And exhausted. But you're extremely happy and relieved at the same time," she said slowly, looking at him and placing her hand on his cheek. "Why do I know that?"

"Let's move you to a warmer place, there's a cabin that belongs to the school half a mile from here," I said, not wanting to tell her just yet. I helped her stand up, her knees shook so Adrian had her wrap an arm around his neck and his arm around her waist, and as she began to walk away slowly, she turned around and looked at me, "You coming?" she said with a small smile and that smile was all I needed. I walked quickly beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, helping Adrian hold her as we walked to the cabin with Alberta behind us. As we walked in the cool air, she shivered and walked against me, I smiled down at her and she smiled back tiredly, I wanted to whisper that I loved her, and I think she knew that I did too, because she nodded and smiled at me. It was then that I knew that I really was in love with her.

* * *

I sighed and leaned into Dimitri as we walked, I was exhausted, but I really just wanted to feel him. His thumb stroked my side and it was the best feeling in the world. But then I felt anxiety from Adrian. I looked at him with an upset face and he smiled at me, trying to figure out why I could feel what he was feeling.

Once we were in the cabin, I saw Cherkesov. He had started the fireplace and something hot on the stove. I actually smiled when I saw him. I walked into the first bedroom and lay on the bed without anyone having to tell me to and shivered, getting under the covers.

Adrian came and sat on the bed beside me as Dimitri sat on the loveseat beside me. Adrian grabbed my hand and took a deep breath. He was nervous.

"Rose… You died…" he started and I looked at him like he was crazy. And then I remembered… I remembered Aleksander leading me into the cave… him biting me…

I flinched and tears came to my eyes, "Aleksander…"

Adrian nodded and began to speak again, "I brought you back with Spirit… Spirit can do that. I studied it when I was reading the few books on it and found out some more about it by older Spirit users… I didn't think I could ever do it, I never really believed it. But I did it. For you. I couldn't lose you… He couldn't lose you." He said with a nod towards Dimitri.

Dimitri smiled at me a little and I smiled at both of them, then looked at Adrian, "Thank you so much Adrian…"

I leaned up and kissed his cheek, he smiled a little bit and whispered, "I love you Rose…"

"I know, I can feel it… I love you too."

"Yeah, you better know it, I just brought you back to life," he said with that cockiness that was so Adrian. He smirked and pulled me in for a hug.

"Wait… is that why I know what you're feeling?" I asked as we pulled away.

"Yeah… About that… There are some aftereffects for being brought back to life with Spirit."

"Wonderful."

"Now these are just supposed aftereffects from the few cases around the world in the past few centuries, but the main ones are that you'll be able to feel what I feel, which has already happened. Or that at random moments you'll be able to go into my head and see what I see as if you were actually me…"

"Great… So now I'm gonna be drunk and horny all the time," I joked even though all I was feeling inside was scared and nervous.

Adrian chuckled and looked down, then up, biting his lip as if he wanted to say something but didn't know how to.

"Spill." I said anxiously.

"We can be apart, but we'll still feel each other.."

"Wow… These aftereffects are a bit hard to take in all at once." I said, a little scared.

"I'm sorry…" he said, sounding nothing like the confident Adrian I'd always known.

I laughed and shook my head, pulling him in for a hug, "No no. _Thank you_! Don't be sorry, you saved… well you gave me another shot at life. I owe you eternal servitude."

"Now now… Don't tempt me," he joked and I grinned.

"It'll all be okay, right?" I asked quietly and he nodded.

"Of course it will be," he said and hugged me again.

I smiled and pecked his cheek, "Go get some rest okay?"

He nodded and patted my hand, kissing my forehead as he got up and walked out of the room, to the one across the hall after closing the door.

I looked around and saw that I was alone with Dimitri for the first time since we kissed, I looked at him and smiled. He smiled back and leaned over, kissing me softly. I gasped at the slight spark that shot off and kissed him back firmly.

"Oh _Roza…_ I thought I had lost you…" he said quietly, his voice shaking.

I shook my head and wrapped my arms around his neck, "I know…"

He slowly got up and crawled into the full size bed beside me, wrapping an arm around me—a bold, but necessary move at the moment—and kissed my cheek, then my other, then my forehead, then my nose, then my chin, and finally my lips.

"Я люблю тебя…" he said quietly.

I looked at him like he was crazy and he chuckled, "It means 'I love you' in Russian…" he said nervously.

I felt my face get hot, I'm pretty sure I was blushing. "Well… I love you too…"

He grinned like he was the happiest man on earth and kissed me tenderly, I kissed him back and closed my eyes, "Sleep time…?" I said quietly and he nodded.

"Anything for you, my _Roza…"_

I shivered as he said my name so sensually and sighed happily before closing my eyes and slowly falling asleep.

* * *

**Awhhhh, finallyyyyy! Right? Haha. Hope you guys loved this as much as I loved writing it.**

**How did you guys like the Adrian, shadow-kiss twist? ;) I for one thought it was great :b But who am I to judge? You guys are the reviewers!**

**So tell me how you liked the twist, what you want to see next, and any other suggestions.**

**How about you get me 15-20 reviews this time since I wrote soo much? :P**

**KAY! I'm counting on you guys!**

P.S. Happy Halloween! :)

**Love you all and can't wait to read all the GREAT reviews,**

**ERICA**


	24. Chapter 24

****WARNING: Part of this chapter is rated M—if you don't want to read any lemony goodness, please skip the part marked RATED M! I don't want any complaints, so please, if you don't like to read anything of the naughty sorts (which is no fun ;p), skip it! LOVE YOU GUYS! ENJOY!**

* * *

_Hours later I woke up to an empty bed. I was terrified. Where was Dimitri? Had we been caught? Had Strigoi come and taken him from me? _

"_Dimitri…" I whimpered and turned, feeling a wet sensation on my neck. I looked down at the bed and saw my blood creating a puddle on the blanket. It was soaked through my costume too. _

_I thought when Adrian had brought me back he had healed me? I sat up and felt a horrible pain in my neck, I cried out and placed my hand on my neck. Dimitri ran into the room and looked at me, then at the blood. _

"_Roza…" he said and sped out of the room, returning seconds later with a towel. He placed it on my neck and kissed my forehead. "I guess Adrian isn't the best healer in the world."_

_I chuckled and looked at him, "He's not here. Where did he go?"_

"_Everyone left to get supplies and clothes for your stay since you aren't strong enough to walk back to the academy, but they got stuck there, just as we're stuck here. There was a blizzard over night."_

_My heart sped up as I thought of being stuck in a cabin with Dimitri for a day, if not a few days. I bit my lip and nodded, "Will we be okay?"_

"_As long as your neck stops bleeding, yes," he said and sat beside me. _

_I nodded and sat up off the bed, "Okay." I didn't mention that blood would make me feel better. But for some reason I think he knew. _

_He leaned forward and pecked my lips softly, "I know you need blood Roza, you can drink from me."_

_I gasped softly and bit my bottom lip, closing my eyes to try and resist the temptation. _

_I felt him link his fingers with mine, sitting closer on the bed with me. "Dimitri…" I whispered shakily. This was torture. _

"_Bite me Roza, I want to feel it." _

_The burning sensation in my throat was too much, so I leaned forward and bit him. He moaned out and I tasted pure bliss as I drank his blood. Thirsty. I was so thirsty. I climbed on top of his lap and he wrapped his arms around me. I began grinding on him as I continued to drink and he moaned "Roza!" as I continued my drinking and grinding. Minutes later I knew I was drinking too much—too too much. _

_I pulled away a little after and looked down at him, expecting a smiling Dimitri. But instead, I saw a dead Dimitri. His heartbeat was gone, his skin paling by the second and his eyes closed. _

"_DIMITRI!" I cried and then felt my heartbeat slowing. What was happening?_

"_When a Moroi drinks someone's blood to the point of draining them, their victim and themselves both become Strigoi." I recalled from someone I couldn't think of._

_I was becoming a Strigoi. I made Dimitri a Strigoi. What had I done?_

* * *

I shot up, sweat dripping down my forehead, what a horrible freaking nightmare, tears began falling without my knowledge. I heard a sob and realized it was mine.

"Rose," I heard and then felt arms wrapped around me, then the smell of Dimitri surrounded me and I slowly relaxed. "It's okay… It was just a nightmare, you're awake now."

"Okay…" I whispered and looked up at him. I received a peck on the lips in return and I couldn't help the small smile that formed on my lips. I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on his chest when I felt a mental pull and all of a sudden I wasn't in the cabin, I was at the academy, in Lissa's room.

_What the hell?_

I was looking at Lissa, who had a gold aura around her, and she looked gorgeous—but in a sisterly kind of way. I realized I was looking at her through Adrian's eyes. He found her gorgeous but in a family type of way, and I respected him even more for it.

"You're shadow kissed?" she asked with a shocked look. "I didn't even think that was possible."

"St. Vladimir and Anna were shadow kissed," he replied as she began to pace.

"I thought it was all made up! A myth! Something," she said and I realized the dark red beginning to outline her gold aura was jealousy. We were best friends and now me and Adrian had a bond. A bond no one thought was possible.

"It's not. I know it's not now."

She shook her head and looked at him, "I want to see her. Now."

"You know that's not in my power, cousin."

"Why is she still in that cabin?"

"She isn't strong enough to walk over here by herself, she just came back to life. We came back to get her clothes and supplies, she'll be up there til then end of the week."

She sighed, "I miss her."

"I know," Adrian said and grabbed her hand. "How's the rest of the school doing?"

"Mourning, of course, we lost a lot," she said and sat beside him.

He nodded and saw her aura shake a little with the sadness, "It's going to be okay, cousin."

"Thanks, you should get back to Rose, tell her I love her. And that I'm worried about her."

Adrian chuckled and patted her shoulder, "Of course. But I need to feed, let's hope all the wounded haven't taken up all the blood supplies."

Lissa chuckled and rolled her eyes, "What if they did?"

He began walking out, "Well, then we're going to have a murderer on our hands."

She gasped and punched him as she pushed him out the door, "Not funny!"

He laughed and shrugged as she slammed her door, and with that slam I was pushed out of his head and back into my own body. I gasped for breath and clung to Dimitri.

"Rose, what happened?" he asked, worried.

"I just went into Adrian's head."

Dimitri hugged me and said with a smirk, "That must've been scary."

"No, I saw Lissa, I need her Dimitri."

"I know, but it's too dangerous for both of you to travel between here and the school, we need to make sure we got all the Strigoi, and if we didn't that they don't come back," he said as he ran his fingers through my hair.

I nodded and looked up at him, kissing him softly and running my hand down his face. He smelled and tasted so good, it hurt. The kiss slowly intensified and I climbed up onto his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck and biting his bottom lip teasingly. He chuckled and growled playfully, although I'm sure I was bringing out the animal side in him, which I did not mind.

He pulled away slowly and looked at me with a look that was filled with burning passion, "If we continue, I won't be able to hold back."

I nodded shakily and kissed him deeply, "I don't want you to hold back."

****RATED M****

He slowly laid me back on the bed and kissed my neck, whispering into my ear, "Did Adrian say anything about when they'd be coming back?"

"He was going to feed, they wouldn't come back without him, right?"

"Very right," Dimitri said as he slid his hands up and down my thighs, making me burn between my legs.

"Mmmmh… Dimitri… Dimka…"

He shivered as I said his name in Russian and he leaned down and kissed me hard, biting my bottom lip and driving me insane.

"I love you so much, Roza…" he whispered as he kissed my lips tenderly.

"I love you, Dimka… make love to me."

The look he gave me told me that I didn't need to ask twice and as we both took our clothes off, it felt right. His chest was amazing, as I'd seen before, and clearly he thought my chest was heaven as he licked and sucked on my breasts. My moans became louder and louder as his mouth and hands worked on me, leaving trails of flames everywhere he touched and licked.

I ran my fingers through his hair as our bodies came together and I felt him push inside of me. His "member" was definitely proportionate with the rest of his large body. And as he filled me to every point I could be filled, I cried out with both pain and pleasure. Minutes passed and everything turned to pure bliss and pleasure. I moaned and ran my fingers up and down his back, not even caring that my mouth was open and my fangs were bared in the pleasure of it all.

Sweat and love were being shared erotically between our bodies and nothing had ever felt better. Making love with Dimitri was like nothing I had ever experienced, with both of my past sexual partners, nothing had ever felt like this. As I got closer to my orgasm, I cried out with the utmost pleasure and scraped my fangs against Dimitri's neck.

He gasped and moaned, "Bite me, Roza…"

I looked at him shocked and shook my head, the pleasure building and my eyes glazing over at the building pleasure and the thought of his blood.

"Please…" he gasped out in pleasure as his hips pounded into mine. I knew I would be sore tomorrow but I didn't care. I was looking at the man of my dreams as we made passionate love and all I wanted to do was bite him. So that's what I did.

As my teeth sunk into him and I tasted his blood, I was pushed over the edge. He screamed out as my bite brought even greater pleasure, and as he began to orgasm, mine came, and as we climaxed together it's like all was right in the world. I pulled away after about thirty seconds of drinking and I licked his bite mark and looked at him, licking my lips and breathing harder than I did when he made me run all those miles.

My body, mind, and emotions were all tired out for the day, but in the best way possible. My body had just received the best pleasure I ever thought was possible, my mind was racing and was finding it hard this had just happened, and I was feeling so much love for this man that I thought my heart would explode.

"I love you…" I whispered as we cuddled up together.

"And I love you…" he whispered breathlessly and kissed my forehead lightly.

My heart grew with the ultimate love as he kissed my forehead and at that moment I couldn't help but cling to him with as much strength as I could muster. I never wanted to forget this moment.

* * *

**So, I feel absolutely horrible for not posting a new chapter in like forever.**

**My lame excuse: This was by far the worst semester of my college career. It was torture.**

**But to bring you guys up to date: I re-read all six of the Vampire Academy books and of course, I fell in love with them all over again. **

**I just couldn't stop writing this. I forgot how amazing Richelle Mead's characters and my fans were. I love you guys and Richelle and all the characters in this series so much. **

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and will forgive me.**

**I was planning to post this on Christmas day but I was way too busy, so let's just say it's still Christmas.**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hope you all enjoy this great present from me :p I love you guys and please stick with me! **

**XOXO,**

**ERICA**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey everyone! Hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter and hope you enjoy this one!**

* * *

After the earth-shattering sex with Dimitri, I had fallen asleep curled up in his arms, when I woke up the sky was dark and I looked around, Dimitri wasn't there. We had fallen asleep and the others were probably here!

"Dimitri!"

He ran into the room and smiled as he saw that I was okay, he shut the door and walked over and kissed me softly, "You're awake." His smile was gorgeous. It melted my heart.

"Did we get caught? Are they back yet?"

"Yes, they got here about thirty minutes ago, I heard them and got dressed and closed your door, they don't know a thing," he said reassuringly and kissing me gently once more.

"Good…" I wrapped the sheets around my naked body, the room was cold.

"Adrian got access to your room and packed a bag for you, well, he packed a huge suitcase for you," Dimitri said and pointed to it by the closet.

I laughed, it was a large sized suitcase and as I slowly stood up, the blanket fell off and Dimitri sighed quietly. I looked at him and bit my bottom lip, I was surprisingly comfortable being naked around him. He obviously liked it too. Dimitri leaned down and kissed me, I smiled and kissed him back, pulling away before things got too heavy.

"Let's see what Adrian packed for me," I said and walked over to my suitcase, opening it and looking. Everything was perfectly folded and I found my tan knee high boots and my Ugg boots in the bottom. My PINK sweat pants and some hoodies were in there, along with some tees and some jeans. "Thank the Lord for Adrian."

Dimitri chuckled and looked at me admiringly as I bent down. I looked over at him and smirked, "See something you like?"

"Very much so," he said and wrapped his arms around me from behind, kissing my neck.

My knees grew week and I whispered, pointing to a door, "Is that the bathroom?"

He nodded and smiled down at me, "Go get a shower."

I smiled and took a much needed shower, but I missed seeing Dimitri so much that I was out ten minutes later. I dressed into my PINK sweatpants, a white low cut v-neck tee, and the matching PINK hoodie. I skipped a bra and panties to tease Dimitri as he watched every move I made while getting dressed with pure lust in his eyes. I slid on some gray high socks and my Ugg boots. I was definitely feeling warmer. I walked over to Dimitri and straddled his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I love you," was all I said.

Dimitri smiled like it was the best thing he'd ever heard, he nodded and brushed a piece of hair behind my ear and kissed my lips tenderly, "And I love you."

"We should probably make an appearance or everyone might suspect something," I said as I began to stand up.

"Wait wait," he said and playfully pulled me back onto his lap. "it's only Adrian and Cherkesov, they can wait." He leaned down and kissed my lips deeply, I gasped at the feeling it gave me and kissed him back deeper, massaging his tongue with mine. Minutes later we pulled away, my head was light and my heart was pounding. _So that's how a kiss is supposed to feel._

I smiled at him and pecked his lips, going over to the mirror and brushing my hair and fixing my clothes from our little make out session. Despite all the bad things that had gone on today, my heart was soaring with the love I felt for this man.

"I love you," he whispered in my ear once more as he stared into my eyes through the mirror. I smiled a big smile and I knew I didn't have to say anything back. He knew I loved him too.

* * *

Rose was beautiful. Amidst all this pain and suffering, she was my light. I knew how wrong it was to be in love with a student but I didn't care. I wouldn't care anymore.

"Shall we make an appearance?" she said with a smile.

"I guess we shall," I said and opened the door.

We walked out into the kitchen and saw Adrian pouring Russian vodka into a glass filled with coffee liquor? Then he poured some cream and mixed it all together.

"Anyone care for a White Russian?"

I chuckled and shook my head no while Rose looked at me expectantly. She was asking me if she could have one.

"I saw how much vodka he put, cut it down half and she can have one," I wasn't one for underage drinking but what could this hurt?

Cherkesov was outside the door, guarding. It was below freezing and snowing outside, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'm also making hot chocolate," Adrian said as he finished Rose's drink.

"Dimitri will take one of those," Rose said with a teasing smile.

"I guess I will!"

Adrian chuckled and poured some hot chocolate for me.

Rose handed me the hot chocolate and turned around, "Pour one more Adrian."

Adrian looked at her oddly and poured one more, she smiled at me as she walked to the front door and tapped Cherkesov on his shoulder. He turned around and smiled as he saw Rose, his smile grew as he saw the hot chocolate. He thanked her and she walked back inside, shivering and holding her White Russian like it was hot chocolate.

"That was sweet of you, Roza.." I said and kissed her forehead, my heart pounding with the love I felt for her.

She smiled at me brightly, drinking her White Russian and sitting on the bar stool beside me.

"So are you two a thing now?" Adrian asked normally.

Rose shushed him and my hand tightened around my mug.

"Can you be any louder?" Rose asked, obviously annoyed. She sighed and linked her fingers with mine. "And yes, we are."

I smiled nervously and looked away.

"It's okay Dimitri, he's not gonna tell anyone."

I shook my head and looked up to see Adrian looking back and forth between both of us. "I'm not going to say anything to anyone. If you two want to go against everything and break all the rules and be together, be my guest. I'm all for rule breaking."

I smirked and so did Rose, I knew it was true.

As I looked at Rose, I couldn't help but think of the news Alberta and Cherkesov had shared with me when they got to cabin.

_"Aleksander and his brother weren't among the bodies, Strigoi and Moroi alike, they escaped," Alberta said with a grim face._

_"Which means..." I started._

_"Which means that it is possible that they can come back, they didn't finish their plan, correct?" Alberta said, I guess Adrian had told her everything._

_"She isn't safe..."_

_"No one is, we haven't seen that many Strigoi together ever. Who knows how many more the Voda boys know," Alberta said and began pacing._

_"The gates will be guarded more closely than ever this week, the Queen has sent some of her best guardians, and some disposable ones, I heard, and no students are allowed outside of their dorm until further notice from Kirova and the Queen," Cherkesov said._

_"I'm guessing we won't be leaving the cabin anytime soon," I said and sighed, thinking of Rose laying on the cave ground, not breathing and without a heartbeat. It'd haunt my dreams forever. I never wanted anyone or anything to ever hurt her again. I wouldn't allow it._

_"Then we need to protect this cabin with everything we have. I won't allow Princess Hathaway to be hurt," I said and looked at them."What do you think Guardian Petrov?" Alberta was the guards captain anyway._

"_Do what you must, Belikov," she said and patted my hand and Cherkesov's back. "I must go back to the academy's grounds and help everyone else. I'll come check in tomorrow, stay safe."_

_And as she walked away my heart pounded with worry. Worry about my love and about the students of St. Vladimir's Academy, in all my life I had never heard of a school getting attacked like this. Or at all. Moroi and Dhampir parents sent children to academies like this because they were safe—safe from Strigoi. This was changing everything._

"Dimitri?" I heard Rose say and looked at her.

"Yes?"

"You blanked out there for a minute," she said and rubbed the back of my arm.

"I'm sorry," I said and leaned down and pecked her lips. Adrian made a disgusted sound and I looked at him, he was smirking. "Watch it, Ivashkov." I said with a matching smirk.

"Hey, you can't kill me. I'm bonded with your girlfriend," he said with a chuckle and Rose grinned.

I knew why too. He had called Rose my girlfriend. But she was so much more than that. She was my soul mate, girlfriend sounded too juvenile, too light of a term. Soul mate was the right term. She'd always be my soul mate and nothing would change that.

As our fingers laced together under the counter I sipped my hot chocolate and looked at Rose, drinking her White Russian and leaning against me as she talked to Adrian about their bond. This was how it was always supposed to be. I would protect her and love her for the rest of my life. **No matter what.**

* * *

**Another chapter! Yaaaay. I honestly loved writing this. Hope you guys enjoyed this!**

**Happy New Year! Not sure if I'll post before 2012, what a weird thing to say. "See you next year!" Haha :) I'm excited for this new year!**

**Read and review! :)  
**

**Thanks guys and I love you all! **

**ERICA**


	26. Chapter 26

**So I decided to continue Alive With the Glory of Love here instead, here is Chapter 26. If any of you read the sequel (posted two chapters with a different title, this IS a different first chapter!) **

**BTW: This story will soon be Rated M for future chapters. I decided I cuss a lot and I want to get more descriptive with sex scenes, violent scenes, etc.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The weekend passed by slowly with me and Adrian hanging out and watching TV while Dimitri and Cherkesov talked guardian planning stuff.

I had a suspicion that even though I had overcome the attack, things weren't over until Aleksander's body was found.

It was now Monday night and school was canceled until further notice. I didn't mind but I missed Lissa. So much.

"My little fireball, where is your true love?" Adrian asked in a teasing tone as we lay together on the couch, watching the Food Channel. It was making me hungry.

"He's talking to Cherkesov, planning guardian schedules of something. Am I gonna be here for that long?"

"I don't think so… But they'd want to protect you."

I sighed and nodded, resting my head on his shoulder. I liked this Adrian. He was like the brother I never had, if you forget our sexual past. I smirked and looked at him as he watched TV. He was feeling very calm yet behind the calmness there was worry and anxiety.

"What's wrong Adrian? Why are you worried and anxious?" I looked at him and sat up straighter.

He looked at me with worried eyes and sighed, "You. I'm worried about you Rose."

"Why..? Why are you worried about me?"

"When you were asleep I overheard Dimitri and Cherkesov talking... They-"

At that moment Dimitri walked in, looking cold. The blizzard was still going on. I rushed up and poured the always-ready hot chocolate into a mug and gave it to Dimitri.

"Thank you my Roza.." he said and kissed my forehead.

He started to drink the hot chocolate and I stared at him, he was such a gorgeous man. And I wasn't just saying that because he was mine. He was truly gorgeous.

But I couldn't get what Adrian had begun to say out of my head.

"I need to talk to you Dimitri," I said quietly and led him to the bedroom. As I closed the door I felt his arms wrap around my waist from behind and kissed my neck.

The feel of his lips on my body drove me insane, but I pushed away from him and sat on the bed. He sat next to me and laced his fingers through mine.

"Why is Adrian worried about me so much?"

Dimitri looked at me with a sort of shocked face, but when his expression changed and he started to speak I knew he was lying, "He's just worried about how you're reacting to the bond."

I grabbed his face lightly and sighed. "Please don't lie to me Dimitri, I can handle anything you say," I said, but I really wasn't sure if I meant that I could handle anything.

"The body of Aleksander was not found.." he began to say. My heart skipped several beats and I felt like I was going to fall over. He continued hesitantly, "That's why we are still here. It's too risky to let you travel anywhere. I want.. No, I need you safe, Roza. And I WILL keep you safe."

I took a deep breath and nodded. I trusted him. But I couldn't help being even more terrified than I was before.

* * *

Days passed and it was time for Rose to go back to school. Her reunion with Lissa had been long overdue and with no sign of Aleksander, we all decided it was safe enough for her to go back.

School had begun again, as well as my training with Rose.

It was soon two weeks until Thanksgiving. Rose seemed to slowly be getting over the traumatic events in the cave and our relationship had been strictly student-mentor since we had returned to the academy-aside from slight touches of our hands and looks. My services were needed right when my training sessions were done and Roza needed to catch up on school work since she had missed more days than the other students.

I longed to touch her again. I missed her warmth and her smile.

Finally, it was Friday and Rose had just finished her training with the Fire users and we were finally going to get some alone time as I wasn't busy either. But then Alberta came walking up to me. I cursed under my breath and put on a smile.

"Alberta," I said as I greeted her with a slight bow to show my respect.

"Belikov," she said. "Miss Vasilisa Dragomir is at the mall and Rose is supposed to go as soon as her training is over. There is a limo waiting for the both of you. You will be her only guardian."

My thoughts began racing as I thought of being in a car with Rose for more than 30 minutes alone. My thoughts were not PG either. I nodded at Alberta and saw her smile a little before she said, "Enjoy your time together."

I thanked her quietly and she just nodded, walking away. I walked to Rose's door and knocked. She opened it and she looked beautiful. She had obviously rushed to her room and showered after her training. Her hair was slightly damp and she looked beautiful.

I smiled at her and looked her up and down. She was wearing black lace flower patterned tights, a long sleeved, slightly see through white button up shirt that hit her butt at the right place to make it not look trashy, and her high, leather, flat, brown boots. I loved her outfit. My mind was racing as I thought of how quickly it'd be to get those tights off of her. Damn was I a perv.

Rose giggled and I looked at her, "I think you're drooling Dimitri."

I smirked and shrugged, "You do have that effect on me."

She laughed and pulled on an olive green colored long sleeve cardigan and grabbed her keys, wallet, and sunglasses before we walked out of her room side by side, our hands brushing together every once in a while.

"How have you been? Have the nightmares returned?" I asked her as we settled into the black Escalade—me in the driver's seat, of course.

"They return every once in a while, but I've been okay," she said and shut the door, turning to me. "I miss you so much, Dimitri."

I nodded, "And I miss you more _Roza_. But it will be Thanksgiving soon and I will be accompanying you to the Dragomir's that entire week. We will find some alone time together, I promise you."

She nodded and seemed satisfied with my promise. I never thought that our relationship would be so hard to uphold but I would not allow anything to phase it. I loved her more than words could express.

* * *

The two weeks before Thanksgiving flashed by. It consisted of playing catch-up, training with Dimitri and sneaking off into the supply closet for a make-out session (it was like he was a teenager when it came to us). It also consisted of me trying to get used to the whole bond thing. Sometimes, when Adrian would go overboard drinking one night, I'd wake up with bloodshot eyes and a hangover that killed me the entire day—and each time that happened he'd get an extremely angry call from Lissa or Dimitri.

Lissa knew about the bond, along with Christian—but that was it. We weren't 100% sure what the bond was and it was a bit confusing.

It was now Thanksgiving morning and I walked into Lissa's room, sighing deeply and laying on her bed in my robe.

"You're going to get my bed wet with your hair Rose!" she said as she slipped a towel beneath my splayed out hair.

I rolled my eyes, "It's better than smelly hair."

She laughed, "You're ridiculous. Get up and go get ready for lunch."

I sighed deeply and pouted, "I don't know what to wear!"

"We already went over this, the outfit you bought at the mall!"

"I know I know, but I just want to wear sweats! I feel like anything else will explode off of my body with how much I'm going to eat!"

She chuckled, "It's one day Rose and you'll be fine."

"Fine! You're a terrible friend."

"Oh I know, I'm the absolute WORST."

I nodded and rubbed my wet hair all over her pillow, grinning as I walked out, "You suck, Rose!"

"Love you too!" I shouted as I walked into my room and closed my door, surprised to see a very tall man sitting on my bed. I locked my bedroom door and walked towards him. My breathing stopped for a second as I looked at Dimitri in all his gorgeousness. "Dimitri…" I said breathlessly.

"Hello my Roza," he said and pulled me close to him, kissing me deeply. I kissed him back, shocked that he would be this risky, coming into my room.

"Happy Thanksgiving," I whispered and kissed him gently. "I have to get dressed for lunch or I will be late, as always."

"I know, Cherkesov took over my shift today so I'll be able to eat lunch with you all like Eric and Rhea wanted me to," he said with a smile.

I slid off my robe from my body as he talked and when it hit the floor he stopped talking, I looked at him and bit my lip. I wasn't embarrassed, he just looked at me like I was a damn goddess every time he saw me naked.

"Keep talking," I said playfully. I slipped on my panties and then my bra. Then I slid on maroon tights, high-waisted, dark washed, cuffed jean shorts, a cream colored three-quarter sleeve thin sweater with black stripes tucked into my shorts, and a cuffed black blazer.

"You look beautiful," Dimitri said as I finished straightening my hair. I smiled and walked over to him, kissing him firmly, biting his bottom lip.

"I love you, _Dimka_," I whispered against his lips.

"I love you, _Roza_," he whispered back and pulled me onto his lap, holding me close.

I heard a knock on the door and jumped, everyone was supposed to be downstairs! I slowly walked to the door, looking back at Dimitri who was now leaning against my desk, and opened it.

"Fireball!" Adrian said and picked me up, hugging me.

I laughed and hugged him back, I hadn't seen him in almost two weeks. I never went that long without seeing him—I knew he was safe, with the bond, but it was different not seeing him.

"Dimitri, of course you're in here," Adrian said with a playful smirk. I smacked his arm. "Ow, sorry, it's nice to see you Belikov."

"Same to you, Adrian," Dimitri said as he walked over to us, kissing my head and patting Adrian's arm as he walked out of the room. "I'll be downstairs, love."

I nodded at him and pulled Adrian into my room as I looked at my shoes, deciding on my favorite knee high tan boots. I slid them on and stood up, hugging him again. "I'm so glad you're here!"

"I couldn't miss Thanksgiving with the Dragomirs! Although my great aunt was not very happy with me coming here instead," he said while we walked downstairs.

"Of course she wasn't," I said and rolled my eyes.

The rest of Thanksgiving week passed by way too quickly and soon enough it was time to go back to school for three more weeks before Christmas/Winter vacation.

* * *

**Sorry guys, I wasn't sure how to end this chapter. More to come soon! I'm home for three weeks before summer classes and I really don't have anything to do. I have the next two chapters written up and I have another three planned! **

**XOXO,**

**Erica**


	27. Chapter 27

Window shopping was just one of many things I loved to do with my best friend. And I hated that I couldn't do just that with her. My heart hurt a bit as Adrian and I window shopped through the mall for Dimitri's present. It took a lot of convincing to get Dimitri to stay at the Dragomir's home while Adrian and I went shopping, but we did it. Not without doubling the security—a princess and the grandson of the queen are pretty important. I didn't think all the security was needed, but with the Voda brothers still out on the prowl for my blood (or my soul, whichever is more important), Dimitri has been doing everything in his power to protect me at all times. So when I told him we were going shopping for his Christmas present and told him he couldn't come, because you know that's just not allowed, he flipped. I calmed him down though, with lots of kissing, and everything was much better.

Our relationship had been getting stronger and stronger. We trained a lot more and sneaking out was getting unbelievably sexy as our sex lives became even hotter. I loved spending as much time as I could with him and my life was at its peak besides the fact that I was bonded to Adrian. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but his drunken nights spend with bloodwhores was really tiring, can you blame me?

I linked arms with him anyway, because it made me feel safe and kept stares of human men off. We walked into a jewelry store and that's when I saw the perfect gift, a Rolex watch. "It's gorgeous…"

Adrian looked at it and I could sense from him that little jealous feeling he gets every once in a while. Whether it was from not having someone to buy him things like this or not having me, I would never know. "It's very nice my little princess," he said with that smirk.

I eyed it some more until the jeweler came by, "Ah, the vintage Rolex. It's a beauty." He was a short, balding man who looked about 55.

"What's the year?" I asked, looking down to eye it again.

"It's 1952," he said.

I bit my bottom lip, looking up at Adrian and then back down at the watch beneath the glass.

"Get it," Adrian urged.

"It's pretty pricey, miss," the jeweler said with an uncertain tone.

"I can afford it and I want it, thank you," I said and walked to the cash register as the jeweler put into a case and packaged it up.

"That'll be $2,833.96," he said and I bit the inside of my cheek—he wasn't joking about it being pricey. I pulled out my wallet and handed him my debit card and put it back into my bag. "You're a very lucky man." I looked at him oddly as he handed me the bag and my receipt, until I realized he was talking about Adrian.

I laughed and nodded, "Yes he is!" I laced my fingers with Adrian as we walked out and neither of us could help smirking as we walked out of the store.

"Thanks so much for the watch sweetheart!" Adrian said enthusiastically as he reached around me for the bag once we were half way across the mall.

"You wish!" I said and swatted at him with my free hand.

Adrian smirked and pulled me close as we walked into Barnes and Noble, Lissa had wanted a NookColor since they came out and I was excited to get one for her. I had collaborated with her parents and they were going to get her an e-book gift card with enough money to buy her as many books as she wanted. I bought her NookColor and a case for it. As we were walking out I spotted another table filled with a simple looking Nook, the original one I think.

"Is there all types of books in this?" I asked a sales consultant and she nodded.

"Why yes, if you'd like you can search for any favorites now."

I typed in Louis L'Amour and it came up with more than 100 results including his novels and short stories. I grinned from ear to ear and went back to the check-out counter and bought him the original Nook. He wasn't the best with technology but the sales consultant reassured me that it was easy to use. I also asked them to load up the Nook with all the Louis L'Amour books. The older woman of a cashier smiled at my choice and I smiled back at her.

"Well they are all downloading now, when you connect to wireless internet they will all be loaded," she said and handed me another boxed Nook and cover—Barnes and Noble was getting a lot of my money today.

"Thank you so much!" I said and walked out with Adrian looking extremely bored and from his mood I could tell he was too.

"Adrian, I'm sorry for dragging you along, I just wanted someone to be here with me."

He looked over at me, hearing the hurt in my voice and hugged me, "I'm not mad little fireball, shopping just isn't my thing, especially for Dimitri."

I glared at him and he raised his hands, "I'm trying to like him."

I sighed and hugged him back, "I know Adrian, I know."

We walked through the mall and I picked up some random presents for the others, like a Dolce & Gobanna cologne for Andre, a simple gold heart locket for Rhea, and a brown leather briefcase for Eric. I also snuck a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses in the cart for Adrian while he was hitting on the sales consultant. He didn't have a pair and I felt that they were a necessity for his too-cool demeanor. I smirked as I looked at him making the sales consultant swoon and bit my bottom lip as I finished paying and walked towards Adrian, sliding my diamond ring onto my left ring finger.

I saw his hand on her waist and when I reached him I pulled him by his sleeve towards me and slapped him, not too hard but enough for it to sting, "How dare you! We're engaged Adrian!" I cried out and stomped away from him, keeping myself from laughing until I reach the outside of the store.

Adrian came out of the store a minute later, looking more pissed than ever and he glared at me, "Really Hathaway?"

I laughed and shrugged, looking back at the Guardians who were smirking too, "Sorry! I got bored!"

"You're lucky we're bonded or I'd kill you," he said as he walked into the parking lot and into the SUV. I hauled the five bags I was holding, along with the ten others my Guardians were holding into the trunk of the SUV and then I got in beside Adrian.

"Wellllll... If you killed me you wouldn't get one of the presents that is in one of those bags back there," I said with a smirk and pointed to the trunk.

I could feel his emotions turn excited and curious, he smirked at me and stretched out, putting his arm around my shoulders, "Maybe I'll keep you around."

I relaxed back into his arms and smiled, "That's right."

* * *

**After I get a few reviews I'll post Chapter 28!**

**XOXO,  
**

**Erica  
**


	28. Chapter 28

It was the night before Christmas, everyone was asleep after the Christmas Eve dinner we had here with the Dragomirs. There was a small gift exchange—really it was Eric and Rhea giving all of us presents. I had received a new PINK hoodie and matching sweat pants and my favorite gift so far—a white iPhone 4S. A lot of Moroi hate technology, they like to follow the freaking archaic times (like the Queen—I'm pretty sure if she could have a chariot, she would), but Eric and Rhea were different. Along with the rest of the Dragomirs—they all kept up with technology. I was so happy to be getting an iPhone 4S. Lissa got one too. We had a blast playing with Siri. They also gave Dimitri and the rest of the Guardians gifts—Dimitri received dark brown leather gloves that I knew were warm and a new headset—along with the rest of the Guardians.

I was wide awake, staring into my gingerbread scented candle on the bedside table and thinking about how Dimitri would react to his presents tomorrow night. It was a bit sickening, how selfless being with Dimitri had made me, how being in love had changed me.

Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard my door creep open and my guards instantly went up. I swiftly passed my hand through the small flame, gathered a small—but growing—flame in my hand as I jumped out of bed. The fire ball extinguished itself as my guards fell down, seeing Dimitri in the doorway, his hands up. He smiled as the fire disappeared from my palm and he closed my door quietly, stepping towards me.

How he could be so tall but so quiet, I'd never know. He came as close to me as possible, wrapped an arm around my waist and his other hand wrapped around the back of my neck.

"I've missed you so much…" he whispered and kissed me softly.

I nodded, shaky from smelling him. I couldn't describe the scent, it was _his_ scent, and I loved it. "I've missed you…"

He held me closer and kissed me deeply. I couldn't help but return the kiss, almost in a trance. How was I supposed to deny the man of my dreams my kisses? I slowly backed into my bed, my knees bending and I fell onto the bed, taking him with me. He groaned quietly as our bodies pressed together, our tongues sliding into each other's mouths. We hadn't been this intimate in weeks. My last few weeks at school had consisted of me catching up and finals. But just as he bit down on my neck, my thoughts went back to his skillful tongue and mouth on my neck. Why did he have to be so goddamned sexy?

"Dimitri…" I moaned quietly. It felt so odd, being _this_ intimate under the Dragomir's roof. But honestly, it was an unbelievable turn-on. Being so close to getting caught, by anyone I had grown up with. As my clothes slowly came off, as did Dimitri's, I looked down at his large member and sucked in a breath. We had only had sex once, the time in the cabin, and I forgot how large he had been. I bit my lip and he looked down at me, his eyes glazed over in the candlelight with arousal and love.

"I love you…" he whispered as he slid his hand up the inside of my thigh and kissed me deeply, sliding his tongue into my mouth as his finger slid into me, then another. I moaned into his mouth, rolling my hips to meet his wonderful fingers.

"Make love to me, _Dimka_," I whispered shakily in his ear as his fingers worked in and out of me.

His withdrawing fingers made me a little bit crazy with need, but once I felt his manhood's head at my entrance, I relaxed again and wrapped an arm around his neck, unconsciously preparing myself for his girth and length.

He pushed into me and I threw my head back as he slid into me inch by inch, my breath hitching. He was so big. I felt him sigh as he filled me and began thrusting in out of me. It was brought to my attention how easy it'd be for us to get caught and it just made me even more ravenous for his touch and love at this moment.

"Yes…" I moaned and arched my back, my breasts pressing up into his chest.

He rhythmically thrust in and out of me, keeping a steady pace as he kissed up and down my neck. Once he reached my breasts and took my nipple into his mouth I thought I might lose it. Especially when he started sliding out of me all the way and then thrusting into me quick and hard, it was the best feeling in the world as his slightly curved member hit my g-spot. I cried out and had to bite into his shoulder as he continued doing that, trying not to break the skin.

My teeth on his shoulder seemed to take him to another level of arousal and he started pounding into me, turning our "making love" session into a complete fucking session—and I didn't mind one bit.

I squeezed his member as he tried to pull out of me to thrust again and he looked at me with a slightly confused look, his eyes still glazed over. He looked like a child who wasn't allowed to do something.

"Do you want me to climax?" I asked and he smirked, it was the hottest thing I'd ever seen. Him smirking with his hair draped around his head as he leaned over me, his muscles prominent as he held himself up.

"Actually…" he said as he thrust into me, despite my squeezing him. I moaned out and had to put my hand over my mouth quickly. He chuckled and did the same thing again, making me squeal. He looked like he was about to go over the edge soon too. He pulled out almost all the way and thrust into me a few more times and as I bit down on his shoulder, I felt myself hit my climax and began coming around his member, holding onto him tightly as I rode out my climax, feeling his orgasm hit and his cum shooting into me. It was the most erotic thing I had ever felt.

Minutes passed as we just held each other, he finally rolled us over, staying inside me as I lay on top of him. I felt him making patterns into my bare back and I shivered.

"Cold?" he whispered and I nodded in response.

He grabbed a quilt I had beside us and spread it across us. I smiled and cuddled into him, closing my eyes and sighing in complete bliss. He was by far the best sexual partner I had ever encountered, and would ever encounter. I would never want anyone else as long as I had him in my life—and in my bed. I knew for sure.

I looked over at the clock and looked at him, smiling, "Merry Christmas, Dimitri."

He looked at the clock and smiled back at me, "Merry Christmas, love."

He kissed me gently and I cuddled into him, sighing tiredly. "Sleep, don't worry, I won't fall asleep."

I nodded, not really caring whether we got caught or not, I just wanted to fall asleep in his arms—and that I did.

* * *

**I hope people are still reading this! The next few chapters will be pretty great!  
**

**XOXO,**

**Erica**


	29. Chapter 29

**Hey everyone! Hope you like the story so far. **

**Question: Will you guys still read this story if I change it to rated M?**

* * *

Waking up Christmas morning to an empty, cold bed was not the way I had in mind. I missed Dimitri's presence.

I stood up and shivered in my nakedness. As I slid on my panties and bra, I thought of the previous night's events and felt my knees go weak. I put on my new PINK sweat pants and a St. Vlad's hoodie. My UGG boots surrounded my feet with warmth as I walked across the hall to the bathroom to wash up. Christmas morning breakfast was always extremely casual. Everyone dressed in as relaxing clothes as possible because of all the dinners and dances we'd be attending between Christmas and New Years Day.

When I walked into the dining room I was surprised to see Adrian sitting in the usually empty seat sipping coffee. Dimitri was in the living room, looking out the window, my heart beat faster as I looked at him—he hadn't seen me yet.

"Fireball! You're up early," Adrian said with his usual smirk.

"I thought you would've for sure gotten drunk beyond your own capability last night," I said and sat beside him, crossing my legs on the chair and grabbing a biscuit. "Although I guess you didn't, since I am thankfully hangoverless."

He chuckled, "Oh I'm saving all of that for New Year's Eve, of course."

I rolled my eyes and smirked, "Of course you are. But hopefully I will be so hungover I won't even realize that _you_ have one."

At that moment, everyone began to walk in and we stopped the talking about our bond.

After we finished breakfast, it was present-opening time. Everyone liked their gifts and I was extremely happy to open my present from Eric and Rhea. It was a Tiffany's silver charm bracelet with ten charms. I actually cried. I hugged both of them and put it on quickly. Lissa gave me an iPad, which I freaked out about. She was cracking up and I passed over her present, the NookColor, which she started crying about. I laughed as much as she had and looked over at Dimitri, who was grinning at my happiness.

I suddenly felt a feeling of disgust and looked over at Adrian who had clearly seen Dimitri's and my shared look. I rolled my eyes at him and stuck my tongue out playfully.

He mouthed "mature" and I couldn't help but grin.

"Do you want your present or not?" I asked him out loud and he frowned.

I slid the box towards him on the hardwood floor and he opened it quickly, smiling up at me. I had gotten him his favorite cologne, a $400 Clive Christian cologne. He had only worn it when we dated because it drove me insane (in the best way possible), and he had stopped wearing it after. I missed the smell and thought it only suited him.

I felt emotions such as gratefulness, happiness, and love coming from him and I blew him a playful kiss. He slid my present towards me and it was a large wrapped box, I opened it and found a Steve Madden shoe box. I quickly pulled off the top and was super confused to find Burberry tissue paper, I unwrapped the tissue paper and found a Burberry check silk scarf. I gasped at the feeling of the scarf and then freaked out as I saw what was beneath the tissue paper. They were dark brown Steve Madden knee-high boots that must not have been cheap.

I jumped up and hugged him tightly, kissing both his cheeks. "Thank you so much!"

He laughed and wrapped his arms around me as I sat on his lap, playing with my scarf. I looked around and found Dimitri, looking a little worried at our sitting situation. I shrugged and gave him a look to make calm his worries.

By the time we were done unwrapping presents, we were running low on hot cocoa and Eric and Rhea wanted wine for that nine. I volunteered to go get the hot cocoa and Dimitri agreed to go with me to get the wine (since I was obviously underage).

I walked upstairs to change out of my sweats and changed into dark wash skinny jeans with my new knee-high boots that Adrian gave me, a deep red cashmere tunic sweater, and a white coat.

I grabbed my brown, leather cross body messenger bag and filled it with my new phone, wallet, and Dimitri's presents before walking out and into the cold, winter wonderland of the outdoors and quickly into the black Escalade—the standard Guardian cars.

I smiled at him and as we drove off he grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together, holding my hand as he drove. I felt so relaxed with him.

"What do you say about us stopping for some coffee for a minute so we can exchange our presents?" he asked as we drove into town.

"That sounds perfect."

We found a small, home-y looking café and walked inside, finding the farthest corner booth and sitting across from each other. Dimitri took out two boxes from his duster's pockets and I was surprised to see a Tiffany's box along with a silver wrapped rectangle box with a black satin bow.

I grabbed the Tiffany's box and looked at Dimitri. He nodded for me to open it and when I did, I gasped at the beautiful jewelry inside. It was a rose gold chain with a rose gold unique heart shaped pendant with round diamonds lining the heart. It was gorgeous and came with a matching earring set. I smiled as a tear rolled down my cheek. Dimitri reached over and wiped the tear before it passed my cheek.

"Rose gold…" I whispered as I traced the diamonds of the heart.

"Yes, all I could think of you when I went to the jewelry store, I knew it was perfect," he said and I quickly slid out of my booth and into his, kissing him firmly.

"I love you."

"I love you too, _Roza_."

He helped me put on my jewelry and I looked over at the silver box, I reached over and grabbed it, unwrapping the satin bow. I was shocked to find a simple, long envelope inside the box. I peered inside the envelope and gasped as I saw two plane tickets.

"Dimitri…" I pulled the tickets out. "Baia, Siberia?" I asked him and he smiled that brilliant smile that made my heart skip a beat.

"Yes, the town I grew up in," he said and laced his fingers with mine. "The town my mother, grandmother and sisters are in."

"You want me to meet your family?"

"Very much so, I've mentioned you and my mother got the hint about my feelings for you."

I smiled and my heart grew for him in that moment, Dimitri wanted me to meet his family! Then something hit me.

"Wait… I don't mean to kill this amazing mood. But… How are we going to get away for a few days without anyone noticing?"

"That's where I was hoping Adrian would come into play," he said with an off smile and I chuckled.

"Of course!" it was actually a brilliant plan. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him firmly. "This is the best Christmas ever, I can't thank you enough Dimitri."

"No need to thank me, I love you _Roza_," he said and kissed my forehead.

"Okay okay, your presents time!" I said excitedly and took the two boxes out of my bag, handing them over to him.

He unwrapped the bow of the Rolex box and opened it, seeing the vintage watch I had bought him when I was with Adrian. "_Roza…_" he whispered and slipped it on slowly. I looked at him and hoped he like it.

"Do you like it?"

"It is unbelievable," he said and leaned down to peck my lips. "It's amazing. It must've been expensive…" he said with a worried look.

I smiled and shrugged, resting my head on his shoulder, "It wasn't too bad. And it was worth it."

"Rose…"he said like he was about to get after me.

I chuckled, "Open the other!"

He sighed deeply but he had a smile on his face as he unwrapped the box and saw the Nook box from Barnes & Noble. He looked at me with raised eyebrows and looked at me. I grinned and he opened it.

"A Nook?" he asked and I laughed.

"It's an e-reader, you can buy as many books as you want and they have almost all books," I said and turned it on for him. "I know you like to read those western novels and… well I thought I should update you on all this technology."

He laughed and kissed my forehead, "It's wonderful, Rose."

I grinned, "You haven't even seen the best part yet!"

I clicked on the Books button and showed him all the Louis L'Amour books I had loaded the Nook up with and his smile and eyes grew wide.

"That is a lot of books…"

"And I'm sure you have them all, but now you have them all in one place."

He grinned down at me and kissed me deeply, I kissed him back and sunk into his side. He pulled away, sighing quietly, "This might not a very appropriate place to kiss like this…"

I laughed and nodded in agreement, "And I guess we should go get the hot cocoa and wine before they get suspicious."

* * *

The rest of Christmas day was just like every other Christmas day. We had an early family dinner that was just as casual as breakfast and relaxed and watched Christmas movies all night with wine until about midnight, when everyone started falling asleep.

Slowly, everyone began walking upstairs to their rooms until it was just me and Adrian sitting on the couch and drinking wine while Dimitri sat in the corner, playing with his Nook. I smiled at him and looked at Adrian, who was staring at me.

"Yes, Ivashkov?"

"You're pathetic is all," he said quietly in my ear, I could smell wine in his breath.

I bumped shoulders with him and smirked, "And you need to shut your mouth."

He smirked and shrugged, "I think I'm going to change my mind and go drink some more tonight."

"Great, now I'm gonna have an even bigger hangover tomorrow."

"Boohoo!" He said and kissed my cheek. "See you tomorrow."

I glared at him until he walked out the front door. It took about two seconds before I felt Dimitri sit beside me.

"And then there were two…" I said playfully and cuddled into him, the wine making me extremely relaxed and extremely horny.

"Yes, just us two," he said with a smile and wrapped an arm around me as we watched the final hour of the Christmas movie.

When it was over, I looked over at him and bit my bottom lip, the wine had sunk into me even more and had made me beyond horny, "How about we… go to my bedroom?"

He smiled and followed me up the stairs quietly. Once we were in my room, his lips crashed into mine and his tongue entered my mouth as my clothes were quickly pulled off, followed by me being laid on the bed.

Dimitri slid into me easily and I cried out into his shoulder. As he slid in and out of me quickly and I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly, then my legs around his waist to pull him even deeper inside of me, it was the best feeling in the world.

I knew I wasn't going to last long and as he began to thrust into me harder I lost it and began to climax, moaning his name into his shoulder right before I was pulled away and into a night club.

* * *

**BTW, I love how everyone is freaking out about Rose becoming pregnant because of their lack of contraceptives! I guess it's the irresponsible part ****of me coming out in my story writing! Woops! FYI, I do believe in contraceptives before marriage. To all the underage people out there. **

**Anyway, I hope you guys are loving this. **

**What'd you guys think of Dimitri's gifts. BAIA? Awesomeeee. **

**And I really hope you guys are still reading this! And please, leave me a review telling me whether you'd still read if I changed it to rated M! I'm pretty sure I've been pushing the limits from rated T to rated M several times and I don't want to get in any kind of trouble!**

**Thanks so much for sticking with me.  
**

**XOXO,**

**Erica  
**


	30. Chapter 30

**I have now changed this story to rated M! **

**The following will be extremely rated M, part of it is (in a way) Adrian's POV!**

**ENJOY!  
**

* * *

I was surrounded with girls in skimpy outfits and I was feeling extremely drunk. I looked down and saw a boner in my Armani Exchange dark washed jeans. A boner?

It was then that I realized that I had just been pulled into Adrian's mind. _BAD TIMING!_ I got up and followed a girl to the dance floor, grinding my boner against her very toned butt and feeling her up everywhere as we danced to the beat of the music. She was 6 feet tall and blonde, most likely a model. She was pretty but she wasn't gorgeous.

The human girl pulled me into the restroom and kissed me hard, I felt nothing as I kissed her back except for a hard-on. She slid my cock out and got on her knees, taking it in her mouth. My drunken mind was all over the place and I moaned out in pleasure as she expertly sucked me off.

Before I was about to explode, I pulled her up, bent her over, and pushed her skirt up to pound into her. It was an amazing feeling and I grunted and thrust in and out of her without a care in the world. And just as I was about to cum, I bit into her neck and drank, sending myself overboard.

I pulled away and helped her stand up, washing the blood off of her neck and walked her to the bar to get her some water and make sure she wasn't going to fall over.

As I left the bar, I sighed and looked around outside before deciding to take the alley way to meet up with the rest of my Guardians (I had two inside the bar with me and two waiting in a car.) It was in the alley way that I was attacked from the side. By a Strigoi.

My heart jumped from my chest while I stared into the red eyes of a Strigoi.

He smiled an uncanny, dark smile that chilled me to the core. But that only lasted a second as two of my Guardians took him on. What they didn't realize was two other Strigoi were right behind him and they quickly took on the two Guardians. Both Guardians and the two other Strigoi were dead in a matter of two minutes and then it was just me and the Strigoi again.

"Where is Rose Hathaway?" he asked with a growl.

"Like I'd ever tell you!" I shouted as he backed into the wall. Where were the other two Guardians? As if it were magic, the other two Guardians came running into the alley with stakes in their hands.

The Strigoi, who I'm guessing worked for Aleksander, easily broke the neck of one of the Guardians but he had an actual fight with the last Guardian. I looked at both of them and shouted from fear as the Strigoi pushed the Guardian against the brick wall and I heard a loud crack. But as the Strigoi turned around, I realized that there was a stake in his chest. He was slowly crumbling to the floor and I stepped forward, grabbing the stake and pushing it upwards, where I guessed his nonexistent heart was located, and he fell to the floor.

I was shaking and fell to the floor, my typical cool completely gone as fear was coursing through my body. I placed my arms on my knees and took deep breaths, wanting a drink even more now.

I jumped up when I heard footsteps down the alley and quickly stood up to be met with the brown eyes of a normal-looking yet beautiful blond girl with an odd gold tattoo of flowers and leaves on her lower left cheek.

"You're a Moroi," she said slowly.

"And you're not, how do you know that?" I asked, nervous that she knew what I was.

"Are you the creator of this mess?" she said, pointing at all of the Strigoi and Guardian bodies.

I shrugged a little, "Partially."

She sighed and shook her head, getting a vile out of her leather messenger bag and poured something on the three bodies of the Strigoi. In a few seconds they were turned into dust and I stared at her.

"You're an Alchemist," I said outloud as I came to the realization. The tattoo, the vial with the weird contents that got rid of the Strigoi's bodies, it all made sense now.

"Ding ding ding," she said sarcastically as she put the vial back in her leather bag. "Next time, call the closest Alchemist as soon as this happens."

"I was kind of in shock, I did get attacked by three Strigoi, Alchemist," I said, getting my smart tone back.

"That's a lot of Guardians for one Moroi, are you royalty or something?" she said sarcastically, she kind of reminded me of Rose.

"Actually, my great aunt is Queen Tatiana. And my name is Adrian, Adrian Ivashkov."

She sighed, "Of course you are, well my name is Sydney Sage, I'm the Alchemist assigned here."

"Nice to meet you Sydney Sage," I said with a smirk as I followed her into a 24-hour café. She seemed tense, I knew Alchemists didn't enjoy the company of any Dhampir or Moroi, they thought we were unnatural. They didn't like magic.

"So, we need to call someone about those Guardians' bodies and then you can tell me why the hell three Strigoi attacked one Moroi," she said and sat down across from me.

* * *

And then I was pulled out of his mind with a loud gasp and I heard my name being repeated over and over, Dimitri was beside me in my bed and trying to get me to come back.

"Dimitri!" I said and I jumped on him, hiding my face in his neck, trying to figure out what all exactly just happened.

"_Roza_, what on earth happened?" he asked as he ran his fingers through my hair.

"I was… I was pulled into Adrian's mind," I said and took a few deep breaths. "He was attacked. By… by Strigoi.. three of them, and I think they work for Aleksander."

Dimitri pushed my shoulders away so he could look at my face, which was filled with concern and worry, "What? _Three _Strigoi?"

"And they killed all four of Adrian's Guardians," I said.

"And you saw all of this?"

I nodded quickly and he kissed my forehead, "Oh Roza…" And right at that moment, my phone began buzzing. I looked and saw that it was Adrian.

"Rose, I need Dimitri-"

"I know, I saw all of it, I don't have time to explain how but it has to do with our bond," I said, not letting him finish his sentence. "Dimitri's on his way, hang tight, I love you."

"Love you too," was all he said before I hung up.

"I'm okay and thankfully, Adrian is too," I said as he stood up and began to get dressed. I slipped on his sweater so he was only wearing his undershirt. "An Alchemist showed up, I don't think we've been taught about them yet."

"They are good people, they just don't like anyone but humans," he said and leaned down, pecking my lips as he got out his phone to call someone much higher than him. He told them what had happened, briefly, without having to tell them how he had known this and then he left with an "I love you" and a kiss on my forehead.

Apparently an entire group of Guardians were going to the alley behind the club to rid of the bodies and to rescue Adrian. My anxiety and worry about Adrian and Dimitri's safety, along with the thought of Aleksander and other Strigoi being in the same city as me spiked to an all new high.

I closed my eyes to feel for Adrian and I knew he was safe. I felt so useless, sitting in bed in Dimitri's sweater. I took it off and put on some panties and my PINK sweatpants, along with one of my own hoodies before going to Lissa's room.

She was asleep and I felt bad for waking her up but she understood once I told her why I had barged into her room this late at night. I told her everything I had seen and how I had "gone to Dimitri's room to tell him what happened," and I laid down beside her and fell asleep talking to her, hearing her words of calm—which helped me immensely.

* * *

I sped to the alley that Rose had pointed out for me on my phone's GPS and got there, shocked at the four very dead bodies of my fellow Guardians. I knew none of them closely, just their names. I sighed as myself and two other Guardians began to pick up the bodies, placing them in bags and into the back of our two Guardian cars.

It was always hard seeing fellow Guardians dead. Once we were done gathering the bodies I walked over to the closest café, finding Adrian and the Alchemist, whose name I came to find out was Sydney Sage, a girl from a large line of Alchemists.

She seemed very professional for someone who must've been Roza's age. I shook her hand, which she took with restraint and thanked her for helping rid of the Strigoi bodies and taking Adrian to the café.

She nodded, surprised at my thanks, and we talked for almost two hours. I interrogated both of them, typical Guardian protocol when it came to massive killings of Guardians (and four was a lot). After I had finished, we said our goodbyes to her and then I escorted Adrian back to my car.

"Just because Aleksander wasn't there doesn't mean that he's not in the city, he's here and he knows Rose is here," Adrian said pessimistically as we sat in the car, driving back to the Dragomir's house.

"I know this, which is why I've called the royal Guardians and they're sending double the Guardians this time. With you always here, it's three royal families they have to protect," I said and turned the opposite way from the house, sighing at what I was about to ask of Adrian.

"You do know the house is that way," he said, pointing backwards.

I put the car in park and looked at Adrian. "I don't want to do this but I feel like I have to, for the sanity and happiness of me and Rose."

"Oookay…" he said, looking at me like I had just grown another head.

"I got myself and Rose tickets to my home town in Russia, and the tickets are for the 27th, of December," I said, looking at him for his reaction.

"I already have a plan set up but I need you to reinforce it," I said and looked away, then back at him.

"You're breaking all the rules being with her, you know this, don't you?" he asked me, pondering the question I had just asked.

"I know I am, but I love her, more than I thought I'd ever love anyone, Adrian," I said quietly.

"You break her heart, I will kill you," he said slowly. I looked him in the eye and nodded.

"I know that."

"Good," he said and sighed deeply. "You have my word, I will lie for you and Rose to have a 3-day get away. But you have to be back by the morning of New Year's Eve or everyone will flip shit, the New Year's Eve dance is the biggest holiday event of the year."

"I know, I will have her back by then," I said and turned the car around.

"Fine then, it's a plan," he said and settled back into his seat, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Thank you, Adrian," I said, hesitantly.

He just nodded and I knew he meant your welcome. Maybe Ivashkov wasn't so bad after all, I thought as we parked in the drive way, the morning light barely breaking into the night sky and went inside, upstairs and opened the door to Rose's room, not seeing her. I felt panic raise in my chest until I rationalized with myself and went to Lissa's room, cracking the door open and seeing Rose lying beside Lissa, both of them sound asleep. I smiled, knowing that she was safe there, with her best friend, and walked to my bedroom just to fall onto my bed with exhaustion and sleep.

* * *

**So... I really liked writing that chapter. You guys kind of got three different POVs in one chapter! How awesome is that? :p Hope you understood each POV without me having to say anything! **

**Are you excited for their trip to Baia? What do you think is going to happen at the NYE dance at the Queen's palace? Leave a review with your thoughts!  
**

**I do get like a third of my ideas from your reviews! So thanks for being so insightful and helpful with AWTGOL!  
**

**Love you all!  
**

**XOXO,  
**

**Erica  
**


	31. Chapter 31

**ENJOY!**

* * *

I smiled at Dimitri as he laced our fingers together, walking through the airport in Chicago. We had flown out of Seattle a little over an hour ago and we were on our way to our connecting flight which would land in Boston and then a straight flight to Baia. I held Dimitri's hand tight, loving the freedom to do so in this human airport.

I couldn't believe I was on my way to meet Dimitri's family. I couldn't believe we had pulled it off without raising any suspicions. Adrian and Alberta were in on the entire 3-day get away. Alberta and Dimitri had announced that they thought it would be best for me to get away from the states for a while as the Guardians tried to find Aleksander and the other Strigoi (which they did.) Lissa and the rest of the Dragomirs offered to all go on vacation but Dimitri had said that they wouldn't have to worry about it, that his family had wanted to see him for over a year and I was just going to tag along to get some training with him in and vacation a little at the same time.

Eric and Rhea quickly agreed that'd be the best because of their strong involvement with the New Year's Eve dance at the palace—they had been involved since I could remember. I reassured Lissa that I would be fine—I loved traveling.

So now we were on our way to Baia, to meet all of Dimitri's family and to spend a few days together. I smiled at Dimitri and he leaned down to kiss me firmly.

"I love you, my Roza," he whispered before we walked towards the woman who was scanning the tickets.

"I love you," I replied, breathless from the kiss.

We walked into the large plane and walked to the front of the plane and into first class, which had rows of large, lounge seats with two in each row. They looked beyond comfortable and I thanked Eric and Rhea silently for updating our tickets from coach to this. Dimitri was hesitant to allow them to do that but he couldn't deny that with his very long body and legs, he'd be extremely tight in a coach seat. So he agreed.

I sat by the window and looked out at the gloomy sky, the window had little water droplets running down—it was drizzling. I looked at Dimitri as he took a complete Guardian stance, looked around for any suspicious people in the small section which only held about 20 first class riders and then sat down beside me right before the plane began to take off.

Once we were in the air and the seat belt sign went off, I lifted the arm rests between us, unhooked my seat belt and cuddled into him. He smiled at me and I tried my best to smile, but my stomach was threatening to throw up my breakfast as I thought of his family—would they like me? What if they thought I was just this stupid princess who was high maintenance and wasn't good enough for their son? Did they even know I was a princess?

I sighed and hid my face in Dimitri's shoulder.

"Roza? Are you okay?" he asked and touched my cheek softly.

I shook my head, feeling a bit stupid for thinking what I was, but what did you expect?

"What's wrong?"

"Nervous." I said with my mouth in his shoulder, making the word muffled.

"What?" he asked, lifting my face.

I sighed deeply, "I'm nervous."

"What about? The flight?" he asked with a concerned look in his eyes.

I shook my head. "What if your family doesn't like me?"

He looked at me with a serious face for one minute and then started laughing, actually laughing. I glared at him. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because…" he chuckled and stopped laughing as he cupped my face. "Rose, they love you. I always talk about you when I'm talking to my mother, they're so excited."

I sighed and nodded.

"You have no reason to be nervous, I promise," he said and kissed my cheeks.

"Do they know who I am?" I asked.

He nodded and I bit my bottom lip. "They're perfectly okay with it."

I nodded again and kissed him firmly, we had already talked about the age thing. They just want him to be happy—plus Dhampir women get with people twice their age all the time, me and Dimitri just had a seven-year difference. When I felt his tongue enter my mouth I pulled away and decided that here wouldn't be the place to get horny. I smiled at him and nestled into his side again, pulling down the plastic covering on my window and closed my eyes to feel myself being pulled into sleep.

* * *

I woke up and felt the plane bumping as the wheels of the airplane touched down. sat up to put on my seatbelt but realized it was already on. I looked at Dimitri and he smiled.

"Are we landing?" I asked, opening the window covering to see us decreasing in elevation slowly.

"Yes," he said with one of his rare, genuinely happy smiles that I had only seen on him a handful of times. I grinned in response and sat up straight, stretching and barely missing his face. He chuckled. "Sleep well?"

"Definitely," I said and looked outside again, seeing snow covered buildings and ground on either side of the runway. My guess was that they kept it as clear as they could, which was comforting. I pulled on my beanie and wrapped my scarf around my neck a bit tighter, preparing for the cold.

Dimitri smirked at me and kissed my cheeks, love radiating from every part of him as he whispered "I love you."

"And I love you."

The trip to his family's home was long and I snuggled into Dimitri as much as the arm rest would allow in our rental car. My stomach was in knots, even with his reassurance that his family would love me.

When we arrive, I was shocked at how welcoming and warm his home looked. It was strange to imagine a small—although I doubt he was ever small—scratch that, a young Dimitri running around and playing children games. We stepped out of the car and walked towards the front door. A woman who was the spitting image of Dimitri, just a foot shorter and smiling with wrinkles around her eyes, opened the door and began crying as Dimitri ran over to her and hugged her, lifting her a little as he did. My heart clenched at the sight.

They were speaking Russian but I heard "mother" in the conversation and I smiled shyly as she looked at me.

"This is Roza," he said and pulled me beside him, wrapping an arm around me tightly.

"Oh Roza, it's so good to meet you!" she said with perfect English—that would make things easier—and hugged me.

"It's wonderful to meet you too, Mrs. Belikova," I said and hugged her back, looking at Dimitri and seeing his approving, big smile. I guess he wore it a lot in Russia, maybe we needed to come here more often.

"Please, call me Olena," she said and then turned around. "Come, come inside, meet everyone!" she held my hand as we walked into the house and I was met by a woman who looked a little older than Dimitri, another girl who looked a few years older than me and a girl who looked about my age.

"These are my sisters, Rose," Dimitri said and pointed to the older one, "that is Karolina," he said and pointed to the one who looked a few years older than me, "Sonya and this little one is Viktoria." He said as he put his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm not little, Dimka," she said with a small smile.

"Sure sure…" he said with a playful grin. They all stepped forward to give me a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Where is Yeva?" Dimitri asked and I heard an older sounding voice coming from the stairs and when I looked over I saw a woman at least two feet shorter than Dimitri, mumbling in Russian. She was cute in size but she scared me as she gave me a stare fit to kill. Dimitri bent over to hug her and place a kiss on each of her cheeks.

She spoke more Russian and pointed at me, Dimitri rolled his eyes and spoke back in Russian, I heard my name. She shook her head and walked back up the stairs slowly. I turned to Dimitri and he gave me a reassuring smile, along with his mother.

"How about we put some food into you? You must be starving! And then I will let you two go to your room and get some rest, it must've been a tiring trip," Olena said and walked into the kitchen, Karolina, Viktoria and Sonya followed, leaving me and Dimitri alone.

"Our room?" I said with a small smile, biting my bottom lip.

"Yes, _our_ room. She insisted… seeing as my feelings for you are beyond what she believed they might be," he said and wrapped his arms around me.

I smiled shyly and hid my head in his chest.

"Come.. let's eat and then we can go to bed and sleep… or not sleep," he said playfully and I pulled my head back quickly, looking up at him, surprised by his perv-like comment. I giggled and kissed his chin.

"I love you," I whispered.

"And I love you, Roza."

* * *

Leave a review and tell me you're still with me. Sorry for the long awaited update. Working on the other chapter now.

**XOXO,**

**ERICA**


	32. Chapter 32

Waking up was the hardest thing to do the next morning. I was definitely not used to sleeping in Dimitri's arms, especially without the fear of being caught and it was such an amazing feeling.

"Roza… it's time to wake up," he whispered and I replied with a groan. Have I mentioned that I'm not a morning person whatsoever?

He chuckled and leaned down, kissing down my face and to my neck, nibbling and making me laugh.

"Dimitriiiii," I groaned quietly and smacked him playfully. "Let me sleep, isn't this vacation?"

"You're jetlagged my love, it will go away eventually, we only have a couple days left and I want to take complete advantage with my family, please?" he pleaded, making me feel totally guilty.

"Fine, fine, I'm up," I moaned, stood up and stomped into the bathroom, taking care of my morning "duties" and brushing out my very frizzy hair. "Hate showering at night…" I mumbled to myself and heard Dimitri chuckle from beside me.

"I thought it was a fun shower…"

I rolled my eyes, hiding my smirk behind my hair as I remembered our events from last night.

_After dinner with everyone, Dimitri and I went to our bedroom and when I jumped into the shower I was "happily" surprised with Dimitri joining me. _

_I turned around and smiled at Dimitri, shivering at his very naked, chiseled body before me. I still didn't know how he was mine. He seemed to think the same thing as the warm water dripped down my body and he bit his lip to keep from saying something. _

_He stepped forward and took my face in his hands, turning us around so he was under the water and kissing me deeply as the water ran over our bodies. I sighed and pressed against him, trying to keep warm without the water warming my body. His kisses still made my knees weak and my insides warm. _

_I wrapped my arms around his neck and he slid his hands under my thighs, lifting me up and placing me against the wall as he slid into me in one quick move. I gasped but made sure to keep quiet and gripped his shoulders as he filled me and began thrusting in and out._

_Shower sex was something I'd never tried and I was glad that it was happening with Dimitri, and I couldn't have been happier. _

"_Dimitri…" I whispered into his ear as he started to go harder, keeping his pace slow but his thrusts and strokes deep and hard. It was love-making at its finest and at that moment, I was so happy that he was mine._

"_Roza…" he said into my hair as he started going faster and I dug my nails into his shoulder, my eyes shutting tight and my toes curling as Dimitri whispered that he loved me, over and over, making me climax._

I shivered as the memory ended and I looked up at Dimitri, pure love and excitement in his eyes. He was thinking of the memory too and it made me laugh softly. He smirked and washed up before I went back into the room to get dressed. It was freezing in Baia and I assumed we'd be going outside at some point.

I slid on my favorite skinny jeans, grey knit legwarmers and pulled on my riding boots over them and then a charcoal grey cashmere sweater. Dimitri came out when I was pulling on my sweater and he smiled. "You're beautiful."

"Right backatcha," I said with a playful grin.

He rolled his eyes and pulled me on to his lap, kissing me firmly, "Thank you for coming with me."

"Thank you for inviting me," I replied and kissed him gently. "Now, let's go spend some time with your family. Shall we?"

He nodded and laced his fingers with mine as we stood up and walked downstairs.

* * *

**I just wanted to post something—sorry it's so short and that it's been so long! Going to try to work on the next chapter ASAP!**

**XOXO,**

**Erica**


	33. Chapter 33

**So… I'm a terrible, terrible person. I know. I am so unbelievably sorry about this long awaited update but I'm in my junior year of college, am taking 14 hours of classes, working 16 hours a week, writing weekly stories for my university's newspaper and am president of an organization and it is pretty insane! But I had some free time and decided I'd write this chapter up. I'm writing the second one as soon as I post this!**

* * *

The rest of our time with Dimitri's family was great. I wished we would've had more time but we flew out that night in order to get back on New Year's Eve morning. The ball (well, the dinner before) was only 8 hours away when we arrived at 10 a.m. and I was exhausted. I had slept the majority of the way but I just wanted my bed.

When I walked into Lissa's house, she jumped into my arms and hugged me tight. "Rose!"

I laughed and hugged her back, not realizing how much I had missed her, "I missed you too Liss!"

"So I had a few dresses sent here for you to pick out, you have to come see them!" she said as she was already pulling me up the steps.

"C'mon Lissa!" I whined. "I just got back." But we were already at the top of the steps and Dimitri was nowhere to be seen.

"Pish posh," she said with a grin and pulled me into her room, where three dresses were being showcased in front of her closet.

One was a sapphire blue, strapless, mermaid style dress with a sweetheart neckline and matching sequins all over the bodice until it hit my hip line and then it poofed out into different shades of sapphire blue tool cut in an edgy type of pattern. I loved it. The second was a black dress with a silk corset with a tool skirt that looked like a tutu, it was really cute but I wasn't sure if it was me. And the last one was a long, gold floor length silk dress with a low cut neckline that would leave none of my assets to the imagination. I smiled at her and pointed at the sapphire blue one.

She clapped and hugged me, "Perfect! I was hoping you'd choose that one!"

I laughed and jumped a little when I heard a knock on the door, but the bond told me that it was Adrian, and my good mood went even higher. I opened it and squealed as I saw Adrian. I had missed him so much even though the bond always told me that he was okay.

"Adriannn!" I said into his neck as he lifted me up.

"My little fire ball, I am so glad that your trip with the Guardian went well," he said and placed me back on my feet. He smelled of cigarettes but I was okay with that. His smoking didn't affect me like his drinking did.

"His name is Dimitri and you know that, Ivashkov," I said with a glare.

He kissed my cheek and walked past me, looking at the dresses, "I certainly hope you chose the sapphire one, it would look amazing on you."

"You'd be happy to know that only seconds ago, I did pick that one," I said with a smile and sat beside him on Lissa's bed as she paced in her walk-in closet, trying to choose between two dresses.

"Lissa, you know you're going to choose the green one," Adrian said with a smirk. "It's the best one for your skin and eyes."

She rolled her eyes, "Shut up Ivashkov!"

"I come in here and this is what I get? Being called by my last name?" he said and shook his head as if he were really hurt. "How rude."

I laughed and smacked his arm, standing up and walking over to Lissa, "Guy's got a point, that moss green is gorgeous. And seriously, one shoulder with a silk bow sash? It's perfect!" It was also a floor length dress but it was made out of a satin-type fabric that made it flowy but still elegant. She had also added a circle shaped jade brooch surrounded with sparkling diamonds that I knew was 100% real.

She attempted to suppress a grin but failed and I grinned back, "Okay… you two are right. I'll go with this one."

I clapped, purposefully mocking her and earned a smack on my arm. She laughed and walked out of her closet, seemingly stress-free now that she had decided on a dress.

I pulled on a navy blue knit sweater, jeans and my tan riding boots and then my cranberry colored coat and got in a car with Alberta and Dimitri to go get some much needed Starbucks and some last minute shoe shopping done. It was cold outside, colder than it had been all winter, and even though we weren't affected too badly by it, it was still a little uncomfortable.

By the time we returned, it was 2 p.m. and Lissa and I carried way too many bags than were necessary up to her bedroom and laid on her back, drinking our lattes and relaxing before we had to get ready.

There was a knock on the door, we expected it to be Adrian again but when she opened it, a make-up artist, a hair dresser and someone I guessed was supposed to do our nails by the supplies she had in her arms walked in. It looked like Lissa was going all out, like always.

Three hours later, I was completely pampered and relaxed with a French nail manicure and pedicure, a Veronica Lake, old Hollywood, 1940s side swept hairdo with deep waves and a smokey eye, red lips combo. It was perfect. I grabbed the bag from Nordstrom and pulled out the box which had Jessica Simpson written on it, I opened the box and smiled at the shoes. They were 5-inch, sequined pumps with a 1 and ½ inch platform. They were gorgeous. The sequins were all different colors, mainly sapphire blue, a sort of pink color and gold. They went perfectly with my dress. I slipped them on as I walked around in a pale cream color slip, trying to get used to them and finding them to be pretty comfortable.

Lissa came out of her bathroom, her dress and silver strappy heels on whistled at me in my slip, I made a model pose, feeling playful and absolutely happy. She laughed and smacked my butt as she walked by. She looked gorgeous and after she was done putting on some jade earrings to match her brooch, she helped me slide on my dress. It fit like a glove and showed off everything that should be showed off. I looked down at the bed and saw a blue velvet box that hadn't been there a minute ago, it had a tag with my name on it. Inside were a pair of earrings with the matching necklace. They were white diamonds with sapphires in the middle, they were beautiful and I practically squealed as I put them on.

I sighed in pure happiness at the dress. I loved it. And with these heels I'd be to about Dimitri's chin, which made me chuckle.

"So… There's something that I have to tell you that Adrian wanted me to wait on," she said, stalling my happy mood.

"What…?"

"The Queen…" she sighed. "She's expecting you and Adrian to go together."

I stared at her, but after a minute of thinking I realized it wasn't a big deal and I shrugged, "That's fine. We'd both be dateless in the first place."

"No, Rose…" she leaned forward and grabbed my hand. "She's planning to announce you two as a couple to everyone tonight."

I jumped up, stumbling ungracefully in my 5-inch heels. "WHAT?"

"She assumed with the bond and how close you two have been… she assumed that you two were together. And she's ecstatic—surprisingly."

I shook my head, "That's insane. Me and Adrian… We're history."

"Not to her," she said and stood up to begin pacing beside me.

"And Adrian's okay with this?"

"Rose, of course not… I mean he is in love with you and always has been, but he knows that you don't feel the same anymore," she said slowly.

I sighed and sat back down on her bed, putting my face in my hands.

"We'll figure this out," she said and rubbed my back. "I promise we will."

I nodded and stood up once more, "I'll play this game for the Queen tonight, but I am telling her sometime this week, before we leave back to school."

She nodded and forced a smile, "So… Let's get drunk tonight?"

I nodded and linked fingers with her, squeezing them, "Deal."

* * *

**How do you think the ball will work out? What will Dimitri think? Why didn't Adrian tell Rose sooner? **

**Leave some reviews on what you think! **

**XOXO, **

**Erica**


	34. Chapter 34

**What what?! There's a new chapter?! Yes there is! Crazy semester is now over and I am now home. My laptop is totally messed up (freezing every other ten minutes, which is beyond frustrating), but I decided to brace through all of the annoying lagging and freezing to type this up. I'm so sorry and I will try to get as many chapters as I can before I get back into my hectic school schedule (which isn't until January 14)! So let's hope that my laptop doesn't die out on me before I get my new one in a few weeks! ****Enjoy guys!**

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We walked into the huge dining room with seats for over a hundred people. The large dining room was decorated beautifully, with pearl and champagne colored fabric draping in swoops along the ceiling with matching table cloths and seat covers—along with the centerpieces.

The Queen always had the best of the best and she didn't disappoint this year. We had a five-course meal, which stuffed me, and glasses after glasses of champagne. An hour and a half later, it was time to walk across the courtyard to the ballroom.

I took a deep breath of the crisp air, smiling up at the brightly shining stars before walking in with Lissa.

"Rose…" Adrian said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Adrian," I replied with a glare.

Lissa looked back apologetically but kept walking with Christian.

"Rose, I was going to tell you."

"Yeah, but you should've told me as soon as I got back from Russia," I said, pulling him to the side to let people walk past.

He gripped my other arm and I yanked it from his hand, I felt hurt radiating from him and for a second I wanted to hug and comfort him—but the rage I felt was overpowering that times a thousand.

"Adrian… I'm with Dimitri," I whispered harshly. "And as much as I love you, you know that it's not in that way, and so should the Queen…'

"I know my little fireball, I know," he said and cupped my cheek. "I love you Rose, and I'm sorry. But let's please just get this over with and we will tell her _after_ the ball, maybe tomorrow?"

I sighed and nodded, immediately feeling relief from him. "I hate you, you know that right?"

He smirked his Adrian smirk and wrapped his arm around my shoulders again as we walked in. I saw Dimitri out the corner of my eyes, looking ravishing in a tuxedo standing along the wall with all the other Guardians. He looked a little upset at Adrian and me being so cozy, but I hoped he'd understand. I sent him a shakey smile before looking around.

The ballroom was decorated the same as the huge dining room, except that the tables were smaller, filled with full wine and champagne bottles, Happy New Year's hats, glasses and flutes (surprisingly the Royals liked to be as silly as everyone else in the world on New Year's) and gift bags (which made me super excited, I placed two for me and Adrian under the table—we'd open them after).

We sat at one of the main tables and stood a few minutes later when the Queen walked in. She looked beautiful in a scarlet red colored dress covered in silver sparkles with a matching shawl and had her elbow locked with Ambrose, her main "lover" as I liked to call him and gorgeous arm candy, who was wearing an all black suit with a matching tie. They were a gorgeous couple and I nodded at her as she passed me, smiling like she'd just won the lottery (not that she needed to) as she saw me and Adrian standing so close together. I sighed internally and turned as she walked to the front of the ballroom, speaking into a microphone.

"Welcome everyone, to our annual New Year's Eve Ball!" she said and raised her arms to acknowledge everyone. The men bowed and the women curtsied, it was all such an old tradition I sometimes forgot to do it, so of course I was a second behind everyone else. I straightened up as she continued to talk about the year we had had and then she turned towards Adrian and me. I braced myself for her introduction of our 'relationship' and took a breath as she continued to speak. "And now, let me introduce you my favorite nephew, whom you all should know, Adrian Ivashkov and his girlfriend, and hopefully my favorite soon-to-be niece, Rose Hathaway."

SOON-TO-BE NIECE!? How huge did she think our bond was? We hadn't dated in almost two years. I stood up shakily and Adrian wrapped an arm around my waist, speaking softly and quickly.

"I am so sorry, please smile, please."

I nodded and forced a smile, which I had done one too many times, so I'm sure it looked genuine. Oh Queen Tatiana… What I would do to you…

* * *

I had received a call from the Queen, mentioning that my suit would be ready to be picked up an hour prior to the ball. I didn't realize that Guardians would also have to be extremely formal. I shouldn't have been surprised that it was tailored to perfection. I couldn't help but think about what my Roza would think of me in this.

Once I got to the dining room, I was expecting to go straight to Roza's table but we (the Guardians) were informed that half would be in the dining room and the other half in the ballroom. When everyone transitioned to the ballroom, we'd take turns lining the walls or interacting with the Royals and doing what we'd like. The Queen was in a wonderful mood and I couldn't help but wonder why—either way, she was being more lenient than I thought she'd ever be.

We waited for about two hours before Moroi began walking in, all dressed their best and most already intoxicated.

Others were stopping at the "complimentary" feeders room behind the ballroom. I cringed a little at the thought but thought of my Roza and how she struggled every once in a while from not feeding for a few days. I sighed at the thought of the few times we had had sex and she had bit my shoulder. I had to think of other things before I got a boner in front of everyone. I chuckled to myself at how much Roza turned me into a teenager sometimes.

I glanced around and stopped when I saw the most beautiful girl, her hair in a classic style and an amazing, figure-showing sapphire dress that made her look a million times more beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off of her, but when I saw an arm draped around her shoulders I stopped with the admiring and glared a little at Adrian. I understood that they were spirit bound, but before that had happened they weren't on the best of terms. Why now? I knew they had previous relations, it was obvious. I hadn't asked but I think he was Rose's first.

Jealousy blew up inside of me and I didn't think I had ever been this jealous of anyone, especially not Ivashkov. But here he was, his arm draped around my soul mate in front of everyone. I would never be able to be that close with Roza in person unless many, many things changed. And I hated him for it. Rose sent me a shaky smile, realizing my discomfort. I smiled back but she had already looked away.

I took a deep breath and began looking around some more, getting back to my Guardian duties. When the Queen walked in, everyone bowed and curtsied and although I was tempted, Guardians weren't allowed to do that while on duty. One bowed head for a couple of seconds and several heads could be flying off.

Queen Tatiana walked to the front of the ballroom and began speaking. Towards the end of her speech, she glanced over towards Rose and Adrian's table and I saw Rose shift in her seat, which she did when she was nervous or anxious.

"And now, let me introduce you to my favorite nephew, whom you all should know, Adrian Ivashkov, and his girlfriend, and hopefully my favorite soon-to-be niece, Rose Hathaway."

My heart stopped as the words flowed out of her mouth, _girlfriend? Soon-to-be niece? _What was happening? Adrian wrapped an arm around Roza's waist and they looked around and smiled as everyone clapped.

I wanted to scream _SHE'S MINE! NO ONE ELSE'S! _But despite my anger and shock, I held it together and tucked my hands into fists at my sides to keep from punching something. How was Rose just letting this happen? Adrian and her were bound, not in love.

Had she known about this our entire trip? _Had her and Adrian been together secretly? __**Don't be ridiculous Dimitri. **_I'd always known that Roza was too perfect for me, I was a Dhampir who was also her Guardian.

After the Queen had announced me and Adrian's relationship, the music began and I was the only one left sitting at the table as everyone else had gone to get drinks or dance. I took out my phone and texted Dimitri.

_Please meet me behind the feeder's room, I need to see you ASAP. –Love, R_

_My break is in 10. See you there. –D_

My heart clenched. Dimitri always told me he loved me, even at the end of short texts. I put my face in my hands, took a large swig of my champagne and walked out of the ballroom and towards the feeder's room. I hadn't fed since before Dimitri and I went to Baia (aside from the one sexual encounter where I bit him—I never drank too much though) and it was about time I fed again. I got one of my usual feeders and quickly had my meal, feeling drunk on blood and champagne before walking out into the crisp night and taking a deep breath before I turned the corner, seeing Dimitri standing there.

I jogged up to him and hugged him. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around me and sighed into my hair.

"I missed you… I know it's only been a few hours but I missed you so much," I whispered into his ear and he nodded, standing back up straight, his arms still around me.

"Roza… You and Adrian?"

I bit my lip, "I know… It's not true, you know that right?"

"Yes… I just wonder sometimes, that you still may love him."

"That's ridiculous, you know I don't love him in that way… he's like family, Dimitri," I said and reached up on my tiptoes, my heels helped a lot, and planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. "I promise."

He nodded and sighed, kissing my lips, "Okay, but what about the Queen?"

"Tatiana is delusional, Adrian tried to convince her we weren't together but she'd have none of it," I said as I stepped closer to him, kissing him softly. "I'm going to clear everything up after tonight."

He nodded again and looked down at me, the love he felt for me radiating off of him, "I love you so much my Roza…"

"And I love you," I replied and kissed him once more.

"You look beautiful tonight."

"As do you," I said with a smile. He chuckled and kissed me one last time before walking me back to the ballroom. We held hands until we saw someone walking near us.

When I got back to my table, there were shots lined up. Adrian, Lissa and Christian seemed pretty messed up and insisted on me taking one, or three.

I ended taking about six shots of straight Russian vodka and I was surprised I didn't pass out at any point of the night. I danced with Lissa, Christian, Adrian and even Dimitri when he got his break (but we kept it casual, no over closeness or touchiness, which killed me—because when I was drunk I seemed to get crazy horny) and at 11:59, the lights came on and everyone got quiet. The Queen was standing at the front of the ballroom and all couples were together. I looked for Dimitri and saw him nowhere, it broke my heart that I wouldn't get to kiss him at midnight. Adrian pulled me close as the Queen looked over at us and smiled. I smiled back as people started counting down, my mind in a total haze from all of the alcohol, _10… 9… 8… _Adrian wouldn't kiss me… _7… 6… 5… 4… _Would he?_ 3… 2… _And right at the moment, Adrian pulled me closer, making me stumble more into him. _1… HAPPY NEW YEAR! _And then he leaned down and kissed me. I closed my eyes and kissed him back, tasting smoke and alcohol and remembering our relationship and how much I had thought I loved him… But I didn't anymore… Not like that… I loved… I loved Dimitri. Right? And by the time I realized that, I pulled away and realized almost everyone had stopped kissing and were staring at Adrian and me, including the one person I wish hadn't been looking. Dimitri.

* * *

**Just FYI, I do in fact love Adrian. I don't mean to make him into a bad guy. Alcohol makes you do some crazy things ;) **

**What do you think is going to happen with Rose and Dimitri? Or Rose and Adrian? I know Dimitri was _really really _OOC this chapter, I just thought that he's so emotionless sometimes, and Rose brings out all of them all the time, why not bring out the jealous, insecure emotions that everyone goes through? Not to mention when your girlfriend is spirit bound to an ex, a bond you will _never_ have with her. **

**Anyway, HAPPY HOLIDAYS guys! I hope you're all still with me, I'll be updating soon. Maybe before Christmas as a second Christmas present? :) **

**Oh, oh, oh, BTW. Just letting all of you guys know (if you don't keep up with it) but it is OFFICALLY OFFICIAL that a great screenplay writer has written a screenplay for VAMPIRE ACADEMY! Yes, IT IS HAPPENING! More news to come. I, for one, am so super excited to see this wonderful world come to life! **

**Love you all and thanks for sticking with me through my hectic, crazy life! **

**XOXO, **

**Erica**


	35. Chapter 35

I pulled myself away and stumbled across the ballroom, the shock of kissing Adrian and Dimitri seeing had sobered me up enough to see straight but it wasn't the best cure to drunkenness. I ran out the door, thankful that the music had began again and no had seen me stumble like a dumbass, chasing my most likely heartbroken Guardian. God what had just happened?

"Dimitri!" I shouted as I ran towards him, thanking all the cardio training he had given me but cursing my high heels.

He turned around and I had never been looked at the way he looked at me, I gasped and put my arms that had been reaching out for him on my side.

"What Rose?" He asked quietly, trying to keep his calm.

"I... I don't know what happened back there," I said and took a step towards him, my heart clenched when he took a step back at the same time. "I'm drunk Dimitri, I know that's not an excuse but Adrian just wanted to show Tatiana that we are actually together as to not embarrass her, you know?"

"You kissed him back Rose! Seconds after seconds I watched my Roza kiss the man I had just shown worry about and you had reassured me there was nothing there!" he shouted and looked around before beginning to pace.

My vision got extremely blurry and I touched below eyes only to feel tears falling. What was happening? This wasn't real.

"It didn't mean anything!" I sobbed and backed up to the wall. "It meant nothing Dimka! I promise, I promise.. I can't lose you. I lose everyone way too much.. Please.."

I couldn't believe I was begging him to stay.

He shook his head and looked like he was in pain, "My Roza.. Oh Rose.." He sighed and kneeled in front of me. "We can be so alike but so different sometimes.." I nodded, feeling completely pitiful.

He sighed deeply and stood up, "I was offered to go with the Queen to Russia for a week as she visits the other palace. She wants the best Guardians to escort her as Strigoi attacks are increasing there also, I told her I'd think about it with the intentions of saying no but I think.. I think this break would be good for us."

"Break? You mean we're taking a break.."

He nodded and ran his hand through his hair.

I threw my head back against the wall, not feeling too much pain and laughed through my crying, "A break! We are seriously taking a break? That always just leads to a break up.. God I didn't think we were that kind of couple.."

"You know we're not a normal couple, Rose. I think this break will be much needed and even helpful," he said and patted my knee, getting up.

I let out a small sob, "A fucking knee pat is what I get?!"

He looked down at me, looking completely troubled, "My shift was over at midnight, I was planning to spend the night with you and the Dragomirs so Cherkesov would be taking over my spot in watching over you specifically. He will be waiting in the ballroom. I'm going to go back to the Dragomirs to pack a bag, I leave first thing in the morning, I will see you in a week Rose."

I reached out as he walked away and couldn't stop my sobs, _why was he leaving me?_ My sobs were loud and ugly, and I didn't care. I had hurt the only man I know I've truly ever loved, my best friend, my soul mate and now he was gone for a week, the longest we'd gone with not seeing each other since we'd met. And I doubted we'd have any communication whatsoever. I cried and cried until I ended up on my side on the freezing concrete.

* * *

Although it seemed like hours, a few minutes later I felt myself being picked up and saw Adrian staring down at me.  
"Oh my little fireball, you are just a mess.."

I frowned at him, my eyebrows creasing as he carried me into a private restroom and sat me on the counter. "This is all your fault."

"Yes, I didn't think you'd respond to that kiss so eagerly, and I especially didn't know Belikov would be watching," he said, sounding slightly remorseful as he grabbed a hand tlw and wet it a little, cleaning up my smeared eye make up before taking my clutch out of his pocket and putting powder on the spot he'd wiped off. "I'm assuming these tears you've spilled are for the Guardian.."

I looked at him as he cleaned me up, sighing as my heart clenched at the memory, my eyes instantly tearing up.

"No more crying, you're much too gorgeous tonight Hathaway," he said and pecked my nose.

I smiled a little and smiled even more when he pulled a flask out, I didn't even ask what it was I just drank as much as I could before swallowing it, ignoring the burn.

"Atta girl.. Let's go out there and celebrate the new year, okay?" He said as he cupped both my cheeks.

I nodded and stood, wobbling as the strong liquor hit me and l leaned into him. "I love you so much Adrian.."  
"And I love you, let's go get our party on."

* * *

Hours later I found myself being carried to one of the Queen's guest rooms near the ballroom. I looked up and saw it was Adrian, although I was seeing double so I just covered my head and groaned at how drunk I was. My mouth felt numb, my hands tingly and I felt like I was floating. Shit.

Adrian put me on my feet and cupped my face, kissing me hard. I kissed him back even harder, feeling my dress being unzipped and shivering at being just in my slip. All of Adrian's top half of his body clothing had been taken off, his dress pants and shoes the only clothing left. The kissing never stopped and I fell back on the bed, wrapping both my legs and arms around him.

A part of me screamed at myself, asking what the hell I was doing but it was quickly taken over by the strong, strong feelings of lust.  
Adrian was so hot and I wanted him more than anything in the world. I felt my panties being slid off and a zipper being zipped and then something being slid against my slit. I moaned and opened my legs wider as Adrian slid into me. I cried out and threw my head back, not caring about how loud I was being with my drunkenness and just keep screaming and crying out as he pounded into me, drunkenly groaning into my neck as he hid his face in it.

He quickly took himself out before flipping me over and we began to do it doggy style. I moaned even louder as I remembered how much he liked to change positions. It was exciting and I felt more horny than I ever had been. What was wrong with me? What about.. Dimitri? That was his name right?

Something was wrong, my mind was spinning as I felt myself going towards the edge.

Adrian and I climaxed at the same time and we fell on the bed together, exhausted and still very drunk.

"Did that just happen..?" Adrian whispered and I nodded in reply, curling into his body as I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**So.. I didn't mean for y'all to get a depressing chapter on Christmas! But it kinda happened.. soo.. I'm sorry! **

**But if you believe in the power of Rose and Dimitri's love, then you should have faith :b**

**I promise, things will work out! **

**Merry Christmas everyone! **

**XOXO, **

**Erica **


	36. Chapter 36

**Holy. Crap. I wanted what happened in the last chapter to be a twist but I didn't think you guys would go as crazy as you did and some even curse me. Haha, one of you guys even said that you'd stop reading even though you loved the story. It slightly broke my heart and I hope whoever you are, read this chapter and forgive me. **

**So I'm posting this at 4:22 am to clear the air as quickly as possible. Hope you guys like it, I'm feeling super vulnerable with my writing right now! And please.. forgive me! **

* * *

When I woke up the next morning I felt terrible. I had the worst headache, felt beyond nauseous and I felt like death. I tried to remember what happened last night but my memory was extremely blurry. When I sat up my head practically exploded and I realized I was naked, _what the hell? _I looked to my side and saw Adrian on his back in all his naked glory.

I let out a scream as my memory shot back and I remembered everything. Adrian shot up and looked at me and then at his naked body.

"Rose… Did we…?"

I put my head in my hands and shifted, wondering if I was at all sore and realized I was. "Fuck… We did."

"How did that happen? How did _this_ happen? Rose…"

"What Adrian? What? I don't know how the fuck this happened! I'm with Dimitri and as much as I love you I _do not_ feel this way towards you," I said and stood up, wrapping the blanket around me as I started pacing back and forth.

"Gee thanks," he said as he plopped back down on the bed, letting out a groan. I threw a pillow at him as I hard as I could in my hungover state and started looking for my clothes. All I found was my slip, bra and panties, my dress must've been on Adrian's side. I sighed hard and put them on, picking up Adrian's white button up shirt from his tux and buttoned it up, I put my hands in my head again, sitting on the loveseat beside the bed.

"We… had… sex…" I said slowly.

"Yes Rose, yes we did."

"And me and Dimitri are on a break… What the fuck is going to happen when he finds out that we had sex Adrian?! I love him."

"Yes, you are in love with the Guardian, I know this."

"Why are you so calm?!" I shouted at him as loud as I possibly could.

"Rose, we are not crazy, someone obviously used something on us to get us to sleep together…" he folded his arms underneath his head and I wanted to jump on him and strangle him for seeming so careless. "I mean, you know how often I get drunk. My mind has never been as blurry as it was last night and I wasn't half as drunk as my worst night."

"What the hell could make us do that?" I asked and continued pacing.

"Compulsion," he said simply.

"Compulsion? How the hell can anyone make us do something like that? They'd have to be strong."

"Easiest on humans, not as easy on Dhampirs and really tough on Moroi—Spirit users can use it even better. But this person would have to be very knowledgeable and know what they're doing. There could be someone out there who's extremely knowledgeable in their Spirit element and they just haven't come out with it."

"Wait, were either of us confronted by anyone who could've compelled us and made us forgot we spoke to them?"

He shook his head and looked up at me, "I've heard of people putting a compulsion spell type of thing into objects, did you find anything at the dance or wear anything new that you didn't buy?"

I looked around the bed and saw my new sapphire and white diamond necklace that I had "randomly" found on Lissa's bed last night. I picked it up and suddenly felt a tug of lust toward Adrian. I dropped it and with it the feeling dropped too. "Whoa..."

"The necklace? Where'd you get it?"

I shrugged, "It was on Lissa's bed in a box with my name on it... It matched perfectly and so I put it on."

His brows furrowed, thinking of who would be able to go into Lissa's.

"Who though? What have we done to _anyone_ that would make them want us to have sex?" I asked. "Wait, why the fuck would it matter if we did have sex? It wouldn't affect either of us despite our slight discomfort… Dimitri and I aren't dating publicly and you have no girlfriend."

"Unless they knew about you and Dimitri and were jealous… Or angry…" he said and looked up at me just as I realized who it possibly, almost 100% sure was.

"Tasha," we said in unison.

* * *

Seconds later we were running out of his room, my dress in my hands, still wearing Adrian's shirt and my heels, which would've been a funny sight if I hadn't been ready to kill someone, that someone being Tasha Ozera.

Adrian called a car for us to take me back to the Dragomir's so I could change clothes and we could be more productive without me freezing to death. Adrian had clothes in his room so of course the bastard was able to change. We also took a shit ton of aspirin and chugged a water bottle each before running out.

I looked at him as he spoke angrily on his phone, trying to find out where Tasha was. I sighed and put my head back, I couldn't blame the guy. I couldn't be angry with him. He was under compulsion too.

He groaned and hung up on whoever he was on the phone with, "They don't know where Tasha is."

"I think Christian stayed with Lissa, we'll ask him."

"Okay, we need to find her and figure out what the hell we're gonna do with her."

"What Spirit user does she know anyway?" I asked, my mind scattered with thoughts on who might be a Spirit user.

"She's been all over the U.S. and even the world, Rose," he said and scratched the back of his neck, something he did when he was anxious. "She could've met tens of Spirit users."

I shook my head, my eyebrows creased. Finally, after what seemed like forever, we arrived at the Dragomirs and walked into a full house of the entire family, plus Christian. They looked at me and Adrian and quickly looked away, I looked at both of us in the mirror and realized I was wearing his shirt with total sex hair with my dress on my arm. And it seemed like we had some "love marks" on our necks. I groaned and stomped up to my room, _great, just friggin' great, they're gonna think we're back together, which is SO NOT TRUE. _

I got in the shower and took my time, then got dressed in some black leggings, tall boot socks, my riding boots and an oversized black and cream white sweater. I dried my hair quickly and put on a black beanie, keeping my make-up simple but still looking good. I was a girl on a mission and if I'm going to be confronting Tasha, I was going to look good while doing it.

I stepped out of my room and ran into Lissa.

"Rose! Omgosh, you and Adrian? Again!?"

I rolled my eyes, "It's a long story Lissa."

"Rose…" she said, sounding hurt. "Since when do you keep stuff from me?"

I groaned and hugged her, "I'm sorry, once I get it straightened out I will tell you _everything_."

She nodded, seeming satisfied.

"Listen… Do you know any other Spirit users?"

"Only Mrs. Karp… And… Oh, Avery Lazar! Her dad, Eugene, worked with Tasha when she lived in Russia, he was a headmaster over there. They just moved back a few weeks ago, they've been staying at the Palace until they find a place to stay, rumor has it he's taking over as headmaster at St. Vlad's," she said, loving the gossip. "Anyway, Christian told me she's a Spirit user—only a few people know about her element apparently and Tasha is close enough to them that she knows."

I grinned and hugged her, "Thanks so much Liss, I owe you!"

I ran downstairs, pulling Adrian into the empty kitchen. "Avery Lazar, do you know her?"

"The hot blonde that's staying with my great aunt? Definitely," he said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, well she's a Spirit user and guess who the Lazar's family BFF is?"

"Tasha Ozera," he said as his eyes lit up.

I nodded just as Christian walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Christian, where's Tasha? I had some questions for her."

"Oh, she should still be at the Palace."

"Awesome," I said with a smile and began to walk out of the kitchen when Adrian started talking.

"Ozera, do you know anything about a jewelry box that was placed in Lissa's room for Rose yesterday before the ball?"

"Yeah, I put it there," he said like it was no big deal. I stared at him and he shrugged, "Tasha gave it to me and said it was a gift for you from someone special. I assumed it was Dimitri since I'm pretty sure she knows about you two so I thought it'd have his name on it. Why? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, we'll be back later Christian," I said and pulled Adrian out of the kitchen.

I quickly slid on my coat and grabbed my bag as we got in the car and went back to the Palace.

My stomach got tight as I thought of what proof Tasha would have of me and Adrian having sex… She obviously wanted to share it with Dimitri to break us up. I closed my eyes and rested my head back, hoping and praying that she wouldn't get to him before I did.

* * *

I had just landed in Russia and already I was missing Rose. My heart tightened a little at the thought of her and Adrian kissing like they did at midnight. I wanted to pull her away in hiding and give her her first kiss of 2013. But that didn't happen.

I was off-duty until we got into the car so as we walked through the airport I thought about everything that had happened last night. Rose was so heartbroken and it broke my heart also. I loved her with all my heart and I hoped she still knew that.

I took out my phone, beginning to dial her number when an unexpected name came up: **Tasha Ozera.**

* * *

**So... You didn't ****_actually_**** think that I'd let Rose cheat on Dimitri? Or that she'd actually want to? Rose is no slut and her and Dimtiri's love is REAL y'all! Like I said before, have some faith! **

**I kind of used the situation from Vampire Academy (first book) when Victor gives Rose the compelled necklace to make her and Dimitri go all sexy sexy together! :P **

**BTW, I typed this up as quickly as possible so excuse any grammatical errors. I hope you all forgive me, keep reading this and love this chapter! Leave me some love! **

**XOXO,**

**Erica**


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